Kite Magnetics secures A$2-million grant to scale Aeroperm motor core material

Melbourne-based advanced materials company Kite Magnetics has secured an A$2-million grant (about US$1.4 million) through the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Program, funding an A$4.1-million project to commercialize its Aeroperm stator core material.

The money will go toward scaling the company’s pilot manufacturing line in Victoria, generating automotive-grade validation data and delivering prototypes to customers. Kite Magnetics expects the work to move Aeroperm from Technology Readiness Level 4 to Level 6.

Aeroperm is a nanocrystalline soft magnetic material intended to replace conventional electrical steel in electric motor stator cores. The company rates its stator core losses at up to 97% below electrical steel under specified operating conditions, and says the substitution neither requires a full motor redesign nor compromises motor torque.

“Electric motors are one of the most important technologies in the electrification economy. Electric motor-driven systems account for around half of global electricity consumption, but the materials inside our motors have not fundamentally improved in decades,” said Kite Magnetics founder and CEO Richard Parsons. “This support from the Australian government helps us bridge a critical commercialization gap,” he said. “It allows us to turn breakthrough material performance into a scalable and repeatable manufacturing process.”

Energy lost in a stator core becomes heat, and that heat raises cooling requirements and forces compromises across the battery, inverter, motor and thermal management system. Kite Magnetics estimates the resulting battery and system savings at up to about A$1,140 per vehicle, equivalent to up to about A$1.14 billion per million vehicles produced, depending on the vehicle platform and motor design.

The company is delivering samples and paid prototypes to more than 20 organizations, including OEMs, Tier 1 and 2 suppliers and electric mobility partners.

Kite Magnetics is also preparing an A$22-million Series A funding round to scale manufacturing and complete customer qualification.

“Most EV range increases are fought for at the battery pack, software or power electronics level. We are attacking a more fundamental source of loss: the magnetic material inside the motor,” said Parsons.

Source: Kite Magnetics