The electric motor has been around for almost 200 years. Invented in 1834 by Thomas Davenport, the electric motor fulfilled the need for a more efficient and versatile source of power than steam engines and other mechanical devices. Various motor designs have been used in countless amounts of engines and recently a revolutionary engine has been unveiled by Finland, which boasts a significant amount of horsepower. With 845 HP in just 90 pounds, this engine destroys all the other electric vehicles (EVs).
The company behind the revolutionary engine
A Finnish startup company, called Donut Lab, recently introduced a new era of electric mobility. The company is a branch of Verge Motorcycles, designed an entirely new approach to producing EVs. Donut Lab built a whole EV hardware and software platform, allowing manufacturers to access a collection of interchangeable parts that allow for the production of various EVs, including supercars, buses, drones, and SUVs.
The future of electric innovation just got even brighter, as the company promises that these vehicles built on their platform will outperform any other vehicle on the market with enhanced efficiency and reduced weight and manufacturing costs.
Some companies have already started using Donut Lab’s platform, including the Latvian manufacturer of off-road EVs, Oruga. Oruga’s latest EV model resembles a modern blend of a snowmobile and motorcycle and made its debut at the startup event, Slush, in Helsinki. Another company benefiting from the platform is the Australian company, Hyper Q Aerospace, which uses the platform in the production of its electric aircraft.
Donut Lab’s little engine that could
At the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas, Donut Lab introduced its modular in-wheel electric motor technology. The company’s Donut Motor can be placed directly into the tire and has been expanded into a motor family. The Donut Motor can function in various types of vehicles, with the most potent form claiming to produce 845 HP.
The new motor family will offer five individual models with the best performance on the market in all types of vehicles. The company said that a motor directly placed into the wheel offers a solution to challenges that have long hindered the development of EVs.
“Great unsprung mass has been the most important reason why everyone hasn’t used motors integrated with the tyre in their vehicles. Through the torque and power density we’ve now achieved, the relative weight of the motor is so small that the unsprung mass is insignificant.” – Mark Lehtimaki, Donut Lab CEO.
How this powerful engine destroys all other EVs
Traditional systems make the production and maintenance of EVs very expensive and reduce the vehicle’s performance while increasing its weight and complexity. Thanks to Donut Lab’s Donut Motor, when placed directly into the tire, the need for power transmission is eliminated, resulting in lighter, easier-to-produce, and more cost-effective EVs.
Another benefit of the Donut Motor is that it makes unsprung mass entirely irrelevant. Other fundamental aspects of the Donut platform include battery modules, computer units, and vehicle control software. These parts come in different sizes and performance levels, and their modular design allows for use in a variety of vehicles, even robots.
According to Donut Lab, its new donut motors are “the most advanced, powerful, and versatile in-wheel motors ever created“, and are lighter than existing technologies. The company also claims to have the highest torque density and highest power density in the world – which means significantly more power and torque can be packed into the same weight and space than any other motor.
BBC Top Gear believes companies who work with Donut Lab will use a pair of smaller, lighter motors at the rear axle, perhaps 400bhp each at the most, making for an 800bhp two-wheel drive vehicle. One thing is certain: the Finnish startup has just made its mark in the mobility division.