36Kr Exclusive丨An axial flux motor enterprise has secured over 100 million yuan in financing, its production capacity will reach 150,000 units, and it has partnered with a number of leading carmakers.
Source / Enterprise
This article contains approximately 2300 words, with an estimated reading time of 6 minutes
Author | Ou Xue
Editor | Yuan Silai
Hard Krypton has learned that 306 (Changzhou) Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "306 Motors"), a provider of axial flux motor solutions, has recently completed a Series A financing of over 100 million yuan. This round of financing is jointly invested by CCB Trust Beijing, Shenergy Chengyi, Shenzhen High-tech Venture Capital, Zongheng Co., Ltd. (688070.SH), Hermes Venture Capital and other institutions. The funds will be mainly used for R&D investment in flat wire axial flux motors, new product development and production capacity construction.
Founded in 2016, 306 Motors started with the manufacturing of motor components, and got involved in the R&D and mass production of flat wire motors at an early stage. Qin Jinyu, the founder and chairman of the company, has 17 years of experience in entrepreneurship and enterprise management, and he has led 10 invention patents for product and process innovation of flat wire motors and axial flux motors.
Against the backdrop of the continuous advancement of global energy transition and equipment electrification, high power density, high torque density, high efficiency and lightweight are becoming important directions for the evolution of motor technology.
Compared with traditional radial flux motors, axial flux motors adopt a flat disc structure, which has significant advantages in volume, weight and integration, and is regarded as the "optimal solution" for the next generation of high-efficiency motors. With the breakthrough of engineering mass production capacity, this track is moving from early technical verification to commercial implementation.
Qin Jinyu told Hard Krypton that the team has always been sensitive to new technologies in the industrial chain, and as early as 2017, it began to focus on the process implementation and structural R&D of axial flux motors. Different from common start-ups, 306 Motors has a deep engineering mass production gene. The company successfully delivered flat wire motor projects for well-known OEMs in the early stage.
At present, the company's existing flat wire motor production capacity has reached 300,000 units per year, and a production line with an annual output of 150,000 axial flux motors is under construction. This large-scale delivery experience provides a valuable foundation for its mass production in the field of axial flux motors. Qin Jinyu said frankly: "We have accumulated experience in the mass production of flat wire motors, and have such cases of delivering products to well-known OEMs. When we carry out the mass production of axial flux motors, we will have more advantages than other peers relatively."
In terms of core technical barriers, 306 Motors has achieved an extremely high self-production rate and self-developed equipment. 70% of the company's motor components are self-developed and self-produced, covering non-ferrous metal parts, stator and rotor cores, etc. Aiming at the common problems of axial flux motors, "difficult heat dissipation and easy demagnetization", the team self-developed stator core punching and rolling machine tools, controlled the end face flatness of the stator core within 0.05 mm, and created an original three-in-one heat dissipation solution of "soaking + oil spraying + external heat conduction". This solution realizes rapid heat dissipation with traditional ordinary materials, promotes the motor speed to break through 20,000 rpm, and provides a replicable engineering mass production path for the industry.
Axial flux motor products (Source / Enterprise)
At present, 306 Motors' products are mainly focused on four major fields: new energy vehicles, humanoid robots, aerospace industry and computing power liquid cooling. Qin Jinyu revealed that automobiles and computing power liquid cooling are the two businesses that have received the most investment at present, among which the automobile business accounts for more than 90% of the total business. In terms of business model, 306 Motors mostly adopts the "co-development" mode in the automotive field, developing together with vehicle manufacturers; while in emerging fields such as robots and computing power liquid cooling, it adopts a "black box" mode more, with the company leading targeted development.
Qin Jinyu revealed that 306 Motors has maintained a revenue growth rate of 50% for 5 consecutive years, among which the growth rate of axial flux motor business has reached as high as 100% in the past two years. Qin Jinyu predicts that the revenue of the company's axial flux motor business can reach about 30 million yuan this year. With the commissioning of new production lines and large-scale delivery of customer projects, the performance is expected to see explosive growth.
The following is an edited excerpt of the interview between Hard Krypton and Qin Jinyu, Chairman of 306 Motors:
Hard Krypton: The axial flux motor is not a new concept. Why has it been widely concerned by the industry only until now? What are the core technical difficulties?
Qin Jinyu: Since CATL announced the scheme of applying axial flux motors to the main drive of automobiles at the end of last year, the industry has become increasingly popular.
The reason why the industry did not take off in the past lies in the core bottlenecks of "process implementation" and "low-cost mass production scheme". Mass implementation is difficult in many aspects such as equipment precision, design, heat dissipation and basic raw materials, all of which need to be overcome one by one. For example, for heat dissipation, we adopted the three-in-one scheme of "taking away heat", which uses traditional materials to realize rapid heat dissipation, which provides a prerequisite for our motor speed to break through 20,000 rpm. At present, all our equipment and molds are self-developed and self-produced, not for external use but only for internal use, which is our confidence to achieve low-cost and high-reliability mass production.
Hard Krypton: Among the current application scenarios of axial flux motors, which one do you think has the greatest explosive potential?
Qin Jinyu: Computing power liquid cooling and automobiles are the two areas we are most optimistic about at present. The automobile industry itself has a large volume, and with the improvement of the power density of the whole motor, technological iteration will bring huge growth space. At present, the automobile business accounts for more than 90% of our total revenue, but we are also expanding into fields such as electric motorcycles, low-altitude economy and robots. We have invested a lot of energy in humanoid robots and computing power liquid cooling. For example, robots are expected to see gradual volume increase until 2028, but the growth rate will be very fast. The overall replacement penetration rate of axial flux motors in the industry may reach 30%. Now it is almost starting from zero, and the growth is mainly driven by both new demand and replacement.
Hard Krypton: You mentioned that the company's competitive advantages are "more flexible" and "open source". What do you think of the possible competition from leading enterprises in the future?
Qin Jinyu: We are an open-source enterprise, and we will not develop products behind closed doors. We hope to promote the development of the entire axial flux motor industry. Only when everyone works together to expand the market size, can we get a share of the benefits. At present, there are not many enterprises that can produce axial flux motors in batches, and we are one of them.
Our future technological iteration will focus on automobiles, robots, electric motorcycles and liquid cooling. In terms of structure, at present we mainly mass-produce two structures: double-stator single-rotor and single-stator single-rotor. The next goal is to overcome the mass production implementation of the single-stator double-rotor scheme, which is our key focus in the next two years. Competitors have their own advantages, but we pay more attention to our own mastery of core processes and rapid response to scenario applications.
Investor Views:
Chen Daming, Chief Investment Officer of Shenergy Chengyi, said: "Axial flux motors are at a critical stage of transition from engineering verification to large-scale application. The core of industrial competition is not only single-point parameters, but also the systematic capabilities of precision manufacturing, process equipment, thermal management and batch delivery. Based on the experience of precision stator manufacturing and mass production of flat wire motors, 306 Motors continues to promote distributed flat wire winding, three-in-one heat dissipation and the new silicon steel stacked axial single-tooth core process, forming a clear technological iteration path. Shenergy Chengyi is optimistic about the company's industrialization potential in new energy vehicles, computing power liquid cooling and other fields, and will give full play to its advantages in financial and industrial resources to support the company to improve its R&D and large-scale delivery capabilities."
Jin Xin, General Manager of Yuanwanggu Fund of Shenzhen High-tech Venture Capital, said: "Axial flux motors are accelerating their pace from technical verification to industrial application, and engineering mass production capacity is the key to determining whether the technical value can be fully released. 306 Motors has formed relatively complete accumulation in flat wire process, core equipment, precision manufacturing and customer verification, showing a clear path from technical feasibility to commercial feasibility. We look forward to supporting the company to continuously improve its R&D, manufacturing and delivery capabilities through the collaboration of capital and industrial resources, and promoting the implementation of high-performance motors in more application scenarios."