This paper is devoted to the outlines of a research project under a European Union Seventh Framework Programme grant. The Venus European project is working on developing an axial flux electrical machine for an electrical vehicle. Between different possible topologies a switched reluctance topology has been chosen. In order to validate the design tools for this uncommon topology a comparison between 2D and 3D finite element analyse together with a experimental validation has been performed. The results of this comparison is summarized in this paper.