An 8 kW switched reluctance motor (SRM) with amorphous cores was manufactured for electricity vehicle (EV) traction. The core magnetic performance and motor static parameters were tested and compared with the same type motor with 50W350 cores. Then, according to the character of EV traction, the motor′s dynamic performance was simulated by finite element analysis (FEA) method. The test and calculation results showed that the amorphous cores had higher magnetic permeability compared with 50W350, which made the motor keep stable phase inductance in the high frequency excitation condition. In addition, amorphous cores significantly reduced motor core loss, and obvioushy increased motor efficiency (about 3%~9%) at high speed with small torque conditions. However, amorphous cores had lower saturated magnetic density, and the amorphous motor flux linkagecurrent curve was different from that of the motor with 50W350 cores, so the operating flux density, geometry and control parameters should be optimized to get the best performance.