A drive unit for driving a motor has a component assembly including a main circuit board having a component side and a solder side, one or more main circuit conductors formed in at least one layer of the main circuit board, a power component module including one or more power components, the power component module having electrical connection terminals for connecting the power component(s) to the one or more main circuit conductors of the main circuit board and a cooling plate coupled to the power component(s) in a manner enabling transfer of heat from the power component(s) to the cooling plate. The power component module is mounted to the component side of the main circuit board. The component assembly further includes a heat sink mounted on the cooling plate and a fan mounted on the heat sink.