A temperature estimation system and method for an electric motor of a vehicle include a set of sensors configured to measure a set of operating parameters of the electric motor including at least (i) phase current, (ii) speed, and (iii) coolant temperature and a controller configured to access a trained artificial neural network (ANN) temperature estimation model, using the trained ANN temperature estimation model with the set of electric motor operating parameters as inputs, estimate temperatures of a stator and a rotor of the electric motor, and control operation of the electric motor based on the estimated stator and rotor temperatures.