{"id":57215,"date":"2022-11-06T21:40:05","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T11:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aumanufacturing.com.au\/?p=57215"},"modified":"2022-11-06T22:25:02","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T11:55:02","slug":"monash-spinout-believes-it-has-a-core-ingredient-for-electric-aviation-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aumanufacturing.com.au\/monash-spinout-believes-it-has-a-core-ingredient-for-electric-aviation-revolution","title":{"rendered":"Monash spinout believes it has core ingredient for electric aviation revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kite Magnetics recently completed an $1.85 million seed round and hopes to be the Rolls-Royce of e-aviation. Brent Balinski spoke to co-founder Dr Richard Parsons.<\/em><\/p>\n Occasionally you have a conversation that reminds you that things are an awful lot better than they used to be.<\/span><\/p>\n For me I had such a conversation a few weeks ago, with a young researcher-turned-entrepreneur who co-founded a company in May to commercialise his scientific breakthrough.<\/span><\/p> Until recently Dr Richard Parsons considered a lab at Monash University his \u201chappy place\u201d. The materials engineer \u2013 from a family of engineers \u2013 had a focus researching magnetic materials, earning a PhD under Deputy Head of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash, Professor Kiyonori Suzuki.<\/span><\/p>\n Parsons and Suzuki spun their breakthrough work in nanocrystalline magnetic core materials \u2013 named Aeroperm \u2013 out into a company named Kite Magnetics, which hopes to develop the world\u2019s highest-performing electric motors, initially for aircraft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the beginning of October, Kite announced $1.85 million in seed funding, with investors including Investible Climate Tech Fund, <\/span>Galileo Ventures<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Breakthrough Victoria<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p> \u201cThe idea is that with our tech, electric aircraft can fly further and carry more,\u201d Parsons told <\/span>@AuManufacturing<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[Those are] currently\u2026 two of the biggest limitations for the adoption of electric aircraft.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The elaborate process to make their key invention, which is mostly iron and which Parsons describes as resembling kitchen foil, leaves a material with \u201cten times lower energy loss\u201d compared to existing core alloys, due to \u201cquantum mechanical effects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kite sees potential to create electric motors for everything from hypercars to vacuums, but believes the biggest need is in electrified aviation, which is generally agreed to be a long, long way from providing long haul flights due to low battery energy density.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not because it\u2019s the easiest industry to get into,\u201d said Parsons.<\/span><\/p>\n