The modification of magnetic structures for an E-core switched reluctance machine (SRM) comprising two segmented stator cores or a monolithic stator core is presented for ease of assembly, good manufacturability, mechanical robustness, and electromagnetic performance improvement. The E-core stator has four small poles with phase windings and two or four large poles (hereafter referred to as common poles), in between. The common poles are shared by both phases for positive torque generation during the entire operation. The E-core SRMs are compared to a conventional two-phase SRM. The comparison includes cost savings, torque, copper and core losses, and efficiency in order to validate the distinct features of the E-core SRMs. Magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) technique is employed for proving the benefits of the E-core common-pole structure.