Abstract: The present invention is a lateral electric motor which can be driven in a single stage drive mode, a two stage drive mode or any other multiple drive stage mode. The main components of the lateral electric motor include permanent magnet poles mounted within a disk rotor which is positioned axially along a shaft and in between a first stator housing assembly and a second stator housing assembly. The first and second stator housing assemblies include wound armature coils mounted to lamination blocks and positioned to face opposite the permanent magnet poles. Each stator is configured with a first segment comprising a plurality of armature coils connected in series wherein the first segment is connected in parallel to a second segment through a switching device to a power supply. With this type of configuration the first and second stator housing assemblies can be further configured to either individually drive the lateral electric motor or be connected to drive the electric motor simultaneously.