Patent ID: 8220575

Claim:
An electric vehicle, comprising: at least one drive wheel; and a power plant configured to supply torque for causing rotation of the at least one drive wheel, wherein the power plant comprises a switched reluctance motor, the switched reluctance motor comprising: a stator having a plurality of stator poles; a rotor having a plurality of rotor poles, the rotor being coupled to the at least one drive wheel; wherein each stator pole comprises: a primary stator pole having a primary stator winding; and an auxiliary stator pole having an auxiliary stator winding; a circuit configured to actuate the primary stator pole and auxiliary stator pole in a stator energizing phase comprising a primary energizing phase in which a first current is switched to flow from a power supply node through the primary stator winding and an auxiliary energizing phase in which a second current generated by the primary stator winding is switched to flow from the primary stator winding to the auxiliary stator winding.