Electrified vehicle having electric machine stator with embedded wire support overmold

An electric machine comprising:

• a rotor;
• and
• a stator surrounding the rotor and separated by an air gap, the stator comprising teeth extending from a yoke portion toward the rotor and defining slots between adjacent teeth, the stator including a molded electrically insulating material coating the slots and having a curved surface extending from the slots and at least partially covering the teeth on at least one end face configured to guide associated windings extending from the slots,
• wherein each slot has a plurality of associated windings and wherein the electrically insulating material extends between at least a portion of the windings for each slot, and
• wherein the electrically insulating material forms a ramped surface extending from a lower first curved surface associated with a first slot to a higher second curved surface associated with a second slot, the second slot being adjacent to the first slot.

A method of manufacturing an electric machine comprising:

• forming a stator core from a plurality of laminations each having teeth extending from a yoke portion toward an inner circumference, adjacent teeth forming a slot therebetween;
• molding a winding guide on the stator core using an electrically insulating fluid that hardens to form arcuate surfaces extending from the slots to the teeth of at least one end face of the stator core;
• and
• positioning windings within and extending from the slots, and bending the windings against the arcuate surfaces to form end windings;
• wherein molding the winding guide comprises molding a plurality of ramped protuberances for each of the slots, each slot having an associated first protuberance ramping from a lower arcuate surface associated with a first slot to a higher arcuate surface associated with a second slot adjacent to the first slot, and a second protuberance ramping from a higher arcuate surface associated with the first slot to a lower arcuate surface associated with the second slot.