In an electric vehicle drive apparatus having an electric motor and a motor drive device, the electric motor having a stator, a rotor and a moving mechanism capable of changing a relative distance between the stator and the rotor to vary an effective magnetic flux of the motor, the motor drive device compares a regenerative current with a target current during a regenerative control of the motor, and when it is found that the regenerative current is larger than the target current, the distance between the stator and the rotor is increased to reduce the effective magnetic flux.