Today’s episode of International Finance’s “Start-up of the Week”, let’s talk about Conifer, a newbie in the automobile sector which has developed its motor to be free of rare earth elements by using more abundant ferrite magnets. The company says this not only reduces cost but also limits supply chain risk. The start-up also claims its proprietary stator offers higher efficiency and power than comparable options while being half the size.
Conifer is the brainchild of a handful of engineers who previously worked at Lucid Motors and on Apple’s electric car project (now cancelled Project Titan), with the dream of putting a fresh spin on electric hub motors. The venture recently concluded a USD 20 million seed round from a host of deep tech investors, including True Ventures, MaC Ventures, MFV Partners, and others.
It’s a magnificent feat for the company, given the uncertainties being faced by the automobile sector (due to the 25% import tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump and a trade war with China), where even the established players are rethinking their operational game plans.
Knowing More About The Company
“Conifer arrives on the scene as progress in electric motor development seems to be advancing rapidly. Companies like Germany’s DeepDrive and Finland’s Donut Lab are taking novel approaches to making electric motors more efficient, powerful, and affordable. This all comes at a time when batteries, which typically account for a bulk of the cost in an electric vehicle, are still getting cheaper but are not seeing the dramatic price decreases that were evident a decade ago,” reported TechCrunch about the company.
Conifer sees the “physical world” around it becoming more electrified, automated, and efficient in the coming days, and a new class of prime movers is needed. To meet the challenge, the start-up wants to “create something that is sustainable yet simple, performant yet cost-effective.”
“Making these ideal ‘Electric Engines’ is not easy. We need to be cautious of every mm, g, and USD. Both innovation and execution at the highest level is required. That’s why we exist. Our vision is to power 10 billion new applications with our prime movers by 2040,” Conifer added.
Starting with its goal of “creating something that is sustainable yet simple, performant yet cost-effective,” Conifer is, as of now, targeting the small mobility space with its hub motor, which it touts as “drop-in,” meaning customers can replace existing hub motors without any major design changes.
Conifer, backed by deep tech VCs like Z21 Ventures, Higher Life Ventures, True Ventures, and MFV Partners, is going after on- and off-road vehicles with two, three, or four wheels. The company has also found interest from lawnmower and tractor makers. With a handful of global customers, Conifer plans to start shipping production motors later in 2025.
Ankit Somani, one of Conifer’s co-founders, told TechCrunch in an interview that he was frustrated by the lack of investment and innovation in electric motors. While he doesn’t have the same background of working at electric vehicle companies as many of his colleagues, he said he’s followed the space closely as an EV enthusiast.
“There was a lot of investment in the battery technology segment, all the way from cathodes, anodes, electrolytes — every piece of it. But not enough on the powertrain front. So we saw that as an opportunity from a market standpoint that, hey, there’s not enough people who have thought enough about this from the ground up,” Somani said.
By using magnets that are more common, Conifer is planning to localise its supply chain around its manufacturing facilities, apart from highly automating the production lines and making them adaptable so different-sized motors can be built on the same line. The concept is called a “microfactory.”
Somani added that Conifer’s motors are “one to two orders of magnitude” less complex than a car, which should reduce the risk of this approach. The start-up will introduce automation to the manufacturing of certain subsystems instead of trying to automate everything from the start.
The Key Technology
Enabled by Conifer’s patented stators, compact axial flux technology, and a proprietary manufacturing process, the start-up is building the world’s most compact, modular, and cost-effective powertrains to power “everything moving.”
The technology completely removes the rare earth elements from the play (apart from being tariff-free and coming with a localised supply chain), as the powertrains provide power density with widely available ferrite magnets.
Conifer’s “In-Wheel Powertrains” are basically 2.5kW to 12kW in-wheel geared motors in a single housing, decoupled from the wheels. These geared in-wheel hubs allow for high peak torques, apart from coming fully sealed and fitting within the wheel rim of most wheels. These powertrains are versatile and can be utilised across 8”-to-17” wheel (on- and off-road) sizes and applications, while efficiently increasing range by upwards of 10% without any battery changes.
One notable feature of these “In-Wheel Powertrains” is their ability to achieve “Torque Vectoring without Half Shafts.” This innovation allows for more space for passengers, cargo, and battery packs. These geared motors are ideally suited for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, lawnmowers, power tools, and agricultural machinery.
Next, we have “Integrated Controller and VCUs” — 150A to 400A, 48V to 72V DC to AC inverters that pair well with the start-up’s motors. With a single scalable architecture and 80%+ similar parts, the start-up’s 48V and 72V inverters scale easily from 120A RMS peak to 400A RMS peak.
The “Integrated Controller and VCUs” are basically cost-effective combinations, bringing all drive experience-related electronics (brake lights, motor controls, and battery charging/discharging during runtime) under a single platform.
“NEMA Electronically Commutable Motors” stands out as a stackable axial flux technology that allows for shrinking axial length and weight by over 50%, while increasing efficiency in applications like industrial automation, robotics, and medical.
These motors are super compact and lightweight, ensuring a 50% reduction in weight and length. In the age of tariffs and trade wars, enterprises planning to invest in industrial automation and robotics will find these “NEMA Electronically Commutable Motors” to be an option that reduces supply chain concentration (of rare earth minerals) and costs, as Conifer uses cost-effective ferrite magnets to manufacture these engineering wonders.
Image Credits: Conifer