What is the right motor for your application?

You would therefore do well to choose a high-efficiency motor that perfectly suits your application. Therefore, as a specialized industrial service provider, ERIKS is now launching a new tool: the TCO motor calculator. Based on a short number of questions about the desired specifications and the intended application, the tool guides you to the best motor for your process. You immediately see the cost and the savings the motor can bring.

Electric motors consume 46% of the electricity generated worldwide. It is at once the reason why Europe has introduced obligations around efficiency classes to make high-efficiency motors the standard. But as users, we are still too unaware of the impact of that energy consumption on the overall cost of the engine. "When we need a new engine, whether it is a repair, a replacement or an upgrade, the main focus is on how much it will cost. Makes sense, because the maintenance manager who has to make these decisions has to justify each expense within his annual budget. What the engine will cost in all the years of service that follow is not considered. However, this is where most of the savings can be made. Cheap is rarely cheaper," warns Kathy Theys, European Business Development Manager Power Transmission at ERIKS.

Energy consumption major cost of engines

If you look at the cost over the entire life of the engine, you will see that as much as 97% of the cost goes to the energy bill. But how can you begin to estimate in advance how well or how poorly your engine will perform? "That was the idea behind the TCO engine calculator tool that ERIKS recently developed. "Our colleagues in the UK were using an Excel-based document internally to give them a quick insight into this. ERIKS Digital then converted this to a web-based platform that we now offer to all users. The unique thing about it is that the tool does not make a theoretical estimate of the TCO, but starts applying all the parameters to your own concrete application. This gives you a clear picture of what the best options are for you, the savings potential associated with them and the payback period." 

Three steps to the right engine

Above all, it had to be a user-friendly tool. In the first step, you can enter what the motor should be able to do based on typical parameters such as power, speed, mounting options ... In the second step, the link to your application is already made.
It inquires about the current IE-class, the number of running hours per day, the load, the assumed lifetime, the energy cost price ... Those who have a login also immediately get to see the correct purchase prices. Theys: "In short, the tool wants to be able to form a picture of exactly how the motor will have to perform in your application. That way, we can calculate exactly what the repair price might be, how much a new motor would cost for your application, and exactly how much you can save in energy and in CO2 over the entire lifetime of the motor. The tool thus also makes it easy, for example, for sustainability managers to get an idea of the potential impact of such replacement projects on a company's green ambitions." Calculate your own benefit at https://select.eriks.be/nl/motor-calculator.

Looking further

The timing for the tool could not have fallen better. Next year, Europe will take a big step in tightening up for electric motors with the introduction of the obligation to market at least efficiency class IE3 motors (0.75 to 1,000 kW, two, four, six and eight poles). "We are going one step further. IE4 motors are also already in stock here, although this obligation only applies from 2023 (75 to 200 kW two, four and six poles). Why? We want to convince customers that it can pay off today to look further and invest a little more. It really does pay off. That's also what the tool shows in black and white. ERIKS wants to inform and advise customers to arrive at the best solution. Motors are really our core business. We also have our own workshop for repairs and rewinding, so we also respond to circular maintenance," Theys concludes.