INNOVATION AWARD
Protean Electric
Britain’s in-wheel-motor pioneer is on the cusp of greatness. FELIX PAGE finds out why
PHOTOGRAPHY JACK HARRISON
Whitehead poses with IWMequipped E-Class and Bedeo range-extender van conversion
urrey-based EV motor developer Protean has its roots in a firm called PML Flightlink, which made headlines in 2006 when S it fitted four in-wheel motors
(IWMs) to a Mini Cooper to give 640bhp, a sub-5.0sec 0-62mph time and a £200k price. The outfit was later acquired by NEVS, the Chinese-owned successor to Saab, before EV tech specialist Bedeo took it over in 2019 and began using its innovative IWMs as part of a range-extender conversion package for diesel vans.
Today, Protean – winner of this year’s Innovation Award – has around 120 staff spread across four global facilities: the UK engineering centre in Farnham, a factory in Tianjin, China, a supply chain office in Shanghai and a new production site in Istanbul. Last year, Protean built 1500 motors, around a third of which went to parent company Bedeo for use in the RE-100 van. But CEO Andrew Whitehead says it could make 10,000 units as things stand, before scaling up to 20,000 and then, 18-24 months later, 100,000.