Patent ID: 7800277

Claim:
A vehicle drive unit comprising: an engine including a crank case with a crank shaft operatively disposed therein, the crank shaft being arranged to be driven by a piston to rotate about a center axis; an axial gap type rotating electric machine attached to the engine, the axial gap type rotating machine comprising: a rotor fixed to an end of the crank shaft and arranged to extend outside of the crank case, the rotor including a plurality of permanent magnets that are orthogonal to the center axis; and a stator fixed to the crank case with the crank shaft inserted therethrough, the stator including a magnetic flux generating area that faces the permanent magnets in the axial direction; wherein the stator includes a first stator that includes first teeth that define the magnetic flux generating area and a second stator that includes second teeth; and a gap is defined between the first teeth and the second teeth and the stator is arranged such that a thickness of the gap can be varied to vary magnetic resistance of the stator by rotating the second stator around the center axis relative to the first stator so that the second teeth rotate relative to the first teeth.