Permanent magnet motor has the advantages of higher efficiency, higher power density and higher torque density. With respect to indexes of existing driving motors, the working principle of permanent magnet (PM) motor for electric vehicles is analyzed, and a 100 kW double-deck interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) is designed. A 2-D finite element model is built based on ANSYS to calculate and analyze the air-gap flux density, cogging torque and back-EMF; meanwhile, the torque-current characteristics, overload characteristics and torque-speed characteristics are calculated. The results show that the peak torque can achieve 1 100 N·m, the peak speed can achieve 9 000 r/min, the range of weak flux is more than 3 times larger, and all the indexes can meet the needs for motor design.