Motor drive system is one of the important part in the development of new energy vehicles. With the increase in power of automotive drive motors and the complexity of the test conditions, the traditional bench experiment has been difficult to meet the test requirements. Electric motor emulator based on power-level hardware-in-the-loop simulation systems are gradually used in the development and testing of motors. This article combines the relevant literature on electric motor emulator for new energy vehicles, describes in detail the principle and development overview of electric motor emulator technology, and analyzes in-depth the main research directions of interface circuits, variable-parameter and high-precision motor models, power topologies, and control algorithms of interface circuits, providing a reference for future theoretical research and production practice of electric motor emulator.