What we do
HiSpeed Ltd. designs, develops and tests tailor-made, highly efficient compact electric powertrains, drives, machines and inverters. The fundamental principle throughout our operations is to promote quality sustainable transportation for all. Our vision is to eliminate transport CO2 emissions completely, by providing state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral electric propulsion components.
From the initial concept through to implementation, we use our innovative technology to develop sustainable products. We use less raw materials in our drive units, from prototype to mass production, and every detail is optimised using powerful multi-physic and multi-objective optimisation algorithms.
Our mission is to engineer the most efficient electric drive units, with no compromise on speed.
Our leadership team
Our leadership team has over 30 years of combined electric powertrain development experience with major automotive manufacturers.
Dr. Alex Michaelides – Co-founder and Managing Director. With strong background in Electrical Drives & Power Engineering, Alex has many years of experience in the design, development and industrialisation of electric machines and their inverters within the automotive, power and aerospace industries. Involved in electromagnetic, stress and thermal analysis and design of electrical equipment, he has employed low & high frequency electromagnetics & multi-physics programs as well as power system simulators in the equipment design cycle. Alex had held positions in Academia and Industry, including posts in Computational Electromagnetic Applications, Power Systems and Electric Drives. In his last post as Senior Manager for Electrical Machines & Drives at Jaguar Land Rover, he managed Design & Release Projects including the 2019MY Jaguar i-PACE and 2021MY Range Rover Evoque traction eMachines, alongside R&D Government-funded projects, most notably HVEMs which resulted in a make-like production facility for electric motors at Jaguar Land Rover. Alex has published extensively on electrical drive design & modelling of electrical equipment (transformers, generators, insulators) and has authored numerous Patents on Automotive applications of electric machines.
Cleef C. Thackwell – Development Director. Cleef leads the development activities of HiSpeed Ltd. in the UK and is responsible for defining the technology roadmap and strategic partnerships, effectively leading the business towards a sustainable long-term growth. Having spent his entire career in the field of automotive traction drives, he has an extensive background in automotive electrical machines, power electronics and drive systems. After graduating with a double Masters degree from Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany, and Ecole Nationale Superieure de l’Electronique et de ses Applications (ENSEA), France, all in Electrical Engineering, he joined Volkswagen AG in Kassel, Germany, as Motor Designer in 2013, working on the development of electric motors for the e-Golf and e-UP!. He later joined Jaguar Land Rover in 2016 as Lead Motor Designer, leading the technical development of traction machines. Cleef has authored many patents in the field of traction drives and is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Tiago Cesa – Engineering Director. Tiago has 20 years experience in Mechanical and Mechatronic design, from early concepts to series production, with strong focus on innovation and new technologies. After graduating in Mechatronic Engineering from PUCRS (Brazil) with a Master’s degree in Design with Finite Elements from UFRGS (Brazil), Tiago always made use of Multiphysics computational methods (CAE / CFD) of stress and thermal analysis to create solutions for complex problems, which has lead him to author a wide range of globally recognised patents. With an international and extensive background in heavy machinery, power generators and electrical machines, he later joined Jaguar Land Rover in 2016 to lead the mechanical development of traction machines. He is currently responsible for all the design, release and testing activities for all HiSpeed Ltd. products.
Wei Guo Long – Co-founder