Multi-phase motor drives, including induction motors and permanent magnet motors, are used in a wide variety of applications and offer fault-tolerant operation under faults in motor windings and converter switches. Symmetrical multi-fed drives based on three-phase modules are of special interest in safety critical applications. They offer simple control under a fault condition. However, even a single open-circuit fault of one switch or winding will cause complete interruption of a faulty module. Furthermore, straightforward extension of a symmetrical multi-fed drive concept into multi-phase motors will result in a drive with a high component count. The motor drive of this patent is a multi-phase motor drive that introduces asymmetry in the drive system architecture. The motor drive includes a plurality of lanes that can have different numbers of phases and can be electrically isolated from each other. Each lane can represent a set of interconnected motor windings isolated (e.g., electrically isolated) from the rest of the motor windings. Each lane can be supplied by, e.g., a DC link, and can be supplied through, for example, a multi-leg inverter. This enables higher flexibility in system design to address different reliability requirements and cost limits of any specific application.