In the electric machines, each of the plurality of drive modules is configured to generate an independent rotating magnetic field. Therefore, the plurality of drive modules are collectively configured to generate a plurality of rotating magnetic fields, which together create a rotating magnetic field in the machine. The rotating magnetic field is a vector sum of the individual magnetic fields from each of the inverter modules. The number of redundancies in the magnetic field, as will be described hereinafter, is equal or depends on the number of inverters or drive modules of the machine. As a result, if a fault in a particular drive module impairs the capability of that particular drive module to generate a rotating magnetic field, the rotating magnetic fields generated by the remaining drive modules will continue to drive the electric machine. Similarly, if a fault in a particular drive module renders that particular drive module incapable of generating one or more phases of the poly-phase AC output, the impact of the resulting rotational asymmetry in the rotating magnetic field generated by that particular drive module will be mitigated by the rotating magnetic fields generated by the remaining drive modules. As a result, these multi-drive module electric machines exhibit considerably improved fault tolerance as compared with prior art electric machines. In particular, the multi-drive module electric machines provide a fault tolerant integrated motor drive capable of sustaining multiple module faults up to a point where at least one drive module remains operational. As long as one drive module remains operational, the electric machine can operate with a balanced, poly-phase (e.g. three phase) supply.