In this work, a literature review of recent developments in the area of efficient finite element (FE) based modeling, analysis, and model-based optimization of PM AC machines is presented. Efficient FE analysis techniques reviewed in this paper aim to minimize the computational effort required to obtain the maximum possible information about the performance of the device being modeled, through the least number of FE solutions. Techniques described in the literature and developed by the authors are presented and compared in terms of assumptions/simplifications used in the analysis, execution times, and computational performance parameters that can be extracted with reasonable accuracy.