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In this paper, an improved analytical model accounting for thermal effects in the electromagnetic field solution as well as efficiency map calculation of an outer rotor surface permanent magnet (SPM) machine is described. The study refers in particular to an in-wheel motor designed for automotive electric powertrain. This high torque and low speed application pushes the electric machine close to its thermal boundary, which necessitates estimates of winding and magnet temperatures to update the winding resistance and magnet remanence in the efficiency calculation. An electromagnetic model based on conformal mapping is used to compute the field solution in the air gap. The slotted air-gap geometry is mapped to a simpler slotless shape, where the field solution can be obtained by solving Laplace's equation for scalar potential. The canonical slottless domain solution is mapped back to the original domain and verified with finite element model (FEM) results.