The diesel electric tractor DET-250M2 was the first tractor in the USSR with an all-electric transmission. This tractor usually works in agriculture as a cultivator and a bulldozer. However, it is often used in the railway sector, in industry, in large construction projects. Since the tractor’s electrical installation developed in the 1950s on the basis of DC collector machines is now obsolete, difficult to maintain, it was decided to upgrade the traction electric drive. The article presents the calculations of an electric machine: optimization of the rotor geometry, selection of the optimal ratio of the pole and interpolar gap, selection of the optimal number of poles of the machine, selection of the current shape, type of rotor. As an electric machine, a FRRM, which characterized by high overload capacity, a wide range of work in terms of torque and speed, was selected.