Have We Gotten Electric Motors Wrong for 150 Years?

A motor that consumes less power, doesn't use any rare earth metals, and boasts an efficiency of almost 100%. Sounds almost too good to be true, right? Well, that's exactly what the American company C-Motive is now promising. And we're NOT talking about your standard electromagnetic motor—the kind that powers pretty much everything today. This is about an electrostatic motor. It seems to be breaking all previous records and is already being tested by the first few companies. How C-Motive pulled off this leap, and whether this motor actually has the potential to replace current technology—you'll find out in this video!

This video was created by my editorial team. Editorial staff: Vera Fleuter, Lukas Laroche, Jacob Beautemps; Editing: Romy Gruetter.

Chapters:
00:00 Electrostatic Motors
00:44 Intro
01:25 Electromagnetic vs. Electrostatic
04:27 The Problem with Electromagnetic Motors
05:34 The New C-Motive Motor
08:53 Benefits of the C-Motive Motor
09:35 Use Cases: Where and When?
10:12 The Big Hurdle
12:06 Final Thoughts

Sources:
Source 1: https://c-motive.com/technology/
Source 2: https://spectrum.ieee.org/electrostatic-motor
Source 3: https://c-motive.com/2024/10/22/the-last-word-on-fedex-testing-ben-franklins-electrostatic-motor-technology-in-north-texas/
Source 4: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_712387
Source 5: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/electric-motors-are-about-to-get-a-major-upgrade-thanks-to-benjamin-franklin-e96f339d?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Source 6: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=u0026arnumber=10860979
Source 7: https://www.leifiphysik.de/elektrizitaetslehre/kraft-auf-stromleiter-e-motor/grundwissen/elektromotor
Source 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXW-nQvbb5w
Source 9: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224014010_A_brief_review_of_actuation_at_the_micro-scale_using_electrostatics_electromagnetics_and_piezoelectric_ultrasonics
Source 10: https://www.kfw.de/PDF/Download-Center/Konzernthemen/Research/PDF-Dokumente-Fokus-Volkswirtschaft/Fokus-englische-Dateien/Fokus-2025-EN/Focus-No.-516-September-2025-Rare-earths.pdf
Source 11: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/copper-loss
Source 12: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/permittivity
Source 13 : https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-45977-5
Source 14: https://www.jpier.org/issues/reader.html?pid=12080808
Source 15: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8902051
Source 16: https://technav.ieee.org/area/electric-breakdown
Source 17: https://c-motive.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Evaluation-of-Electrostatic-Motor-Efficiency.pdf
Source 18: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10958191B2/en
Source 19: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=u0026arnumber=11106195
Source 20: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast/31/2/31_2_115/_pdf
Source 21:
https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/physik/dielektrikum/3025
Source 22:
https://www.leifiphysik.de/elektrizitaetslehre/kraft-auf-stromleiter-e-motor/grundwissen/lorentz-kraft
Source 23:
https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/physik/elektromotor/4064

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