Modal Motors bets on rare-earth-free electric motors

Michael Van Steenburg has spent the past decade building electric motors in the U.S. and North America. With his new startup, Modal Motors, he wants to do it again — but this time without rare-earth magnets at all, a move meant to further separate the U.S. from China’s supply chain.

Van Steenburg, one of the founders competing in Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt next month, argues the stakes are urgent, pointing to China’s past restrictions on rare-earth exports as proof the country has already shown it will use its leverage.

Other companies are also trying to build electric motor manufacturing and supply chains in the U.S., but Van Steenburg says they’re doing it the wrong way by continuing to rely on rare-earth magnets, since domestic supply of those materials is still years away. He describes their approach as essentially copying Chinese motor designs and assembling them domestically, betting that the U.S. rare-earth magnet system catches up fast enough — a bet he doesn’t think will pay off for a while yet, leaving China’s grip on the supply chain intact for now.

Modal Motors has two products in development ahead of Disrupt. The first is a small electric motor meant for drones that can also work in fans, blowers, and actuators, designed to minimize mass while delivering maximum torque density and efficiency. The more radical design is what the company calls the “Hybrid Enigma Drive,” a planar — or flat — electric motor built to fit lower-profile spaces.

Van Steenburg is drawing on decades of automotive-industry experience to bring the motors to market. There’s an irony in his current mission: in the late 1990s, he worked on a hybrid gas-electric drivetrain that China wanted to put in its so-called “People’s Car.” What hasn’t changed since then, he said, is his outsider streak and conviction about tackling hard problems.

“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, grabbing mines, grabbing mineral rights, doing all these things, and slowly but surely monopolizing the entire rare-earth supply chain,” he said.

Why it matters

Modal Motors’ bet suggests that “reshoring” hard tech to the U.S. only reduces China exposure if the materials, not just the assembly, move too — a distinction that matters for any manufacturer betting on rare-earth-dependent designs.