eMONIC set out to take a racing-grade electric motor into cars. SciMo, founded in Karlsruhe in 2017 with a German government start-up grant, builds electric motors with a patented winding that it says reach peak power densities "of over 17 kW/kg", and sells them in small volumes to motorsport and aviation.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,935,530 towards a €2.77 million project, eMONIC, to industrialise these motors for the automotive market. By the end in December 2024 SciMo had commissioned a fully automated winding machine and cut winding costs to about €450 a motor. It keeps launching motors, most recently a motorsport motor in September 2025, but has named no car maker as a customer.
Company file
- Legal entity
- SciMo - Elektrische Hochleistungsantriebe GmbH, HRB 728028, Amtsgericht Mannheim
- Founded
- 2017, Karlsruhe, with an EXIST grant
- Leadership
- Marc Veigel and Markus Schiefer (managing directors), Florian Kassel (CFO)
- Products
- Motors from 20 kW to 1,000 kW, inverters, test systems
- Markets
- Motorsport, aviation, automotive development
- Certification
- ISO 9001 since 2019
- EIC project
- eMONIC, 1 Jul 2022 to 31 Dec 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where SciMo Stands Today
SciMo is active, according to German register data compiled by North Data, which also list a further public research grant of €231,508 in 2024. Its website's latest launch, in September 2025, is the SY61.C motorsport motor: a pair delivers "more than 500 kW peak power" at "slightly over 30 kg dry mass" per motor. In 2024 it presented a direct-drive motor series with integrated inverter. In June 2023 it reported that its SY43.B generator flew in the hybrid-electric EL-2 Goldfinch demonstrator of Electra.
The Technology: Packing in More Copper
According to the CORDIS report, SciMo's design fits 60% more copper into the same space and cools it 90% more effectively, giving 75% higher power density and a 30% price advantage, by the company's figures. The report says more than 70 prototypes had been built for aerospace and motorsport, and that motors in racing covered 500 to 1,000 km each with two early failures among 50 drive sets.
"Does not use expensive materials, so it comes with a very competitive price."
SciMo, on the SY61.C motor, September 2025What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
eMONIC promised "the next generation of automotive electric motor". Its main result was production: a fully automated winding machine, WM04, commissioned in February 2024, which produced the first fully automated coil on a stator, handles stators of 100 to 250 mm, and cut manual interventions from 13 to 0.3 an hour. SciMo targets 500 to 1,000 motors a year. CORDIS names no automotive customer, only a "lead customer" in motorsport and progress towards aviation flight clearance.
- Automated windingDeliveredWM04 commissioned 2024.
- Lower production costDeliveredAbout €450 winding cost.
- Validated motorsDeliveredRacing use; aviation demonstrator.
- An automotive customerNot shownNone named.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
The award was "grant first"; we found no EIC Fund investment or private funding round. SciMo has been financed partly by public grants, from the EXIST start-up grant to the EIC and a 2024 research grant. Its accounts are filed but their figures were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
SciMo's revenue, how many motors it sells a year, who its customers are and whether any car maker is testing its motors are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Electric motors are a core component of the electric car. SciMo's claims of higher power density at lower cost would matter to European car makers if they hold up in series production. So far its public customers are in motorsport and aviation.
What the project promised
The next generation of automotive electric motor, ready for industrial production.
What the record shows
Automated winding, cost targets met, new racing and aviation motors; no automotive customer.
The Verdict
Production solved, market not yet
eMONIC delivered the automation it was funded for, and SciMo is a working motor maker. But the project was about cars, and SciMo's public customers are still racing teams and aircraft developers.
SciMo has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and German register information, linked throughout.
