C-Motive, Startup Developing Electric Motor Technology, Raises $750K
Summary
Cobalt is a component in batteries that reportedly power the majority of mobile phones, laptop computers, and electric cars around the world, and demand from the technology and auto industries has helped send prices soaring. Companies like Apple, Tesla, and BMW are responding by trying to strike long-term deals with owners of cobalt mines to ensure a reliable supply and protect against potential future price increases. The startup’s motors could eventually be used to do anything from spinning ship and aircraft propellers to accelerating electric cars to powering robots on assembly lines, Reed says. While the basic principles of electrostatic motor design have been around for a long time, C-Motive’s innovation was to make what Reed calls “some clever changes to a few aspects of it, using the latest technology—the components that go into it.” Whether C-Motive’s technology can be fully commercialized, or scaled in a cost-effective way, remains to be seen. But if things unfold the way the startup hopes, one long-term result could be the ability to make motors out of plastics and other materials that tend to be lighter and cheaper than metal, Reed says.
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