Tau invents wire that doubles the power of electric motors and raises €10.25 million

A startup company called Tau, which specializes in materials science and automotive electrification, says it has delivered a prototype wire that enables electric motors to double their power output without changing their size. 

The technology could mean that electric vehicles and machines of all kinds can keep going for longer on a single charge, and go faster.

Coinciding with the milestone of delivering prototype winding wire to the automotive industry, Tau also concluded its Series A financing round with additional funding from Finindus, a Belgium-based investment company financed by ArcelorMittal and the Flemish Region, and a top-up by German specialty chemicals company Altana. The total raised is said to be €10.25 million.

Tau develops high-performance wire that combines minimized partial discharge, high filling factors, greater temperature resistance, high-voltage and frequency optimization.

The company says this “enables global producers of electric motors, cars, buses, trucks and aircraft to double the power output of future traction motors while keeping their size”.

Piero Degasperi, Tau’s CTO and co-founder, says: “Years of research have allowed us to be developing coated metal wires and sustainable manufacturing technologies with a radically reduced environmental footprint.

“Our fast-growing team of electrical, chemical, quality and mechanical engineers relentlessly optimizes our processes with exciting new polymers and data analytics from production to achieve our goal to set the new global standard for wire coating.”

Tau’s DryCycle solvent-free process eliminates emissions of harmful volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases, and minimizes the use of resources, energy consumption and waste. LILIT controls the insulation quality of winding wire and electrical steel.

Daniel Rutz, CDO of Tau, says: “Enabling transformational change essential to decarbonize energy requires a sustainable mindset for all our stakeholders: employees and their families, customers, suppliers, investors and nature.

“For Tau this means creating solutions for the electrification of transport and industry as well as embracing environmental responsibility, ethical leadership, personal growth and continuous learning.”

Finindus joins the existing investor group including Altana, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (Russia’s sovereign wealth fund), the leading sovereign wealth funds of the Middle East and other individual and financial investors.

Hans Maenhout, investment director at Finindus, says: “Tau’s dry coating technology offers the ability to apply coating systems of diverse chemistries in an environmentally friendly way on metal wires with advanced geometries. This has the potential to unlock significant performance for electric motors especially in e-mobility applications.”