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Lately, it seems like everyone is talking about bringing manufacturing back to the United States, especially when it comes to hard tech like drones and robotics. Michael Van Steenburg thinks he\u2019s ahead of the game. <\/p>\n
Van Steenburg spent the last decade building all kinds of electric motors in the U.S. and North America, and now he wants to do it again with his new startup, Modal Motors. This time, he wants to ditch rare-earth magnets entirely, in a bid to further separate the U.S. from China\u2019s supply chain.<\/p>\n
As one of the founders in Startup Battlefield 200 who will compete at TechCrunch Disrupt next month, he thinks it\u2019s an urgent pitch to make.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina\u2019s already flexed its muscles a couple times,\u201d Van Steenburg said, referring to the country restricting access to rare earth products<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are other companies working on setting up electric motor manufacturing and supply chains in the U.S., but Van Steenburg argues they\u2019re doing it the wrong way by continuing to rely on rare earth magnets. Domestic supply of those materials is still years away, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOther people are \u2018reshoring,\u2019 [but] they\u2019re basically knocking off Chinese motors and just doing it in the U.S. But they\u2019re hoping that the U.S. rare earth magnet system is going to get up to speed fast enough,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to still be a while longer before they can actually replace China.\u201d<\/p>\n Modal Motors has two products that it\u2019s developing ahead of Disrupt. One is a small electric motor meant for drones that can also work in fans, blowers, and even actuators. It\u2019s designed to \u201cminimize mass while delivering maximum torque density and efficiency,\u201d according to the startup\u2019s website.<\/p>\n The more radical design is what Modal refers to as the \u201cHybrid Enigma Drive,\u201d a planar \u2014 or flat \u2014 electric motor that can fit in lower-profile spaces.<\/p>\n Van Steenburg is drawing on decades of experience in the automotive industry to develop these motors and get them customer-ready. But there\u2019s also an irony in the work Van Steenburg is doing to make Modal Motors\u2019 products a China-free option; in the late 1990s, he worked on a hybrid gas-electric drivetrain that China wanted to put in its so-called \u201cPeople\u2019s Car.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of comical,\u201d he said, thinking back on that experience and how much the world has changed. What hasn\u2019t changed, he said, is his outsider streak and strong conviction about doing things that are hard.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell people that the clock started ticking 25 years ago, and in that whole time, I\u2019ve watched a slow-motion train wreck as China\u2019s been going around the world, grabbing mines, grabbing mineral rights, doing all these things, and slowly but surely monopolizing the entire rare earth supply chain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n