Modal Motors has developed two products ahead of the competition. The first is a small electric motor designed for drones, fans, blowers, and actuators, which the company says "minimizes mass while delivering maximum torque density and efficiency." The second, more radical design, is the "Hybrid Enigma Drive," a planar electric motor that fits into low-profile spaces.
Van Steenburg brings decades of automotive experience to the venture. He spent the last decade building electric motors across the U.S. and North America, and before that, in the late 1990s, worked on a hybrid gas-electric drivetrain that China intended for its so-called "People's Car."
"It's kind of comical," Van Steenburg said, reflecting on how much the world has changed since that collaboration. He now frames his mission as urgent, pointing to recent Chinese restrictions on rare-earth exports. "China's already flexed its muscles a couple times," he said.
Van Steenburg is critical of other reshoring efforts that simply replicate Chinese motor designs and hope domestic rare-earth magnet production catches up. "It's going to still be a while longer before they can actually replace China," he said.
"I always tell people that the clock started ticking 25 years ago, and in that whole time, I've watched a slow-motion train wreck as China's been going around the world... slowly but surely monopolizing the entire rare-earth supply chain," he added.