By: Jennifer Hicks
Source: Forbes
You know the drill. The familiar buzzing sound of a weed wacker combined with either the smell of gasoline or that super long power cable that’s covered in grass shavings. Not any more.
A father and son team, Matt Jore and Lincoln Jore, Core Outdoor Power, created new gas-free motor technology, called Conductor Optimized Rotary (CORE) combined with a hybrid power cell to go in their new line of gas-free emission-free outdoor power equipment – a hedge trimmer, lawn mower, blower and back pack blower. They call it intelligent technology to replace gas.
What does the new gas-free motor technology mean for portable outdoor power equipment?
Well a couple of things. One, the Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) market for portable or handheld moving products is around $15B. Second, zero emissions, less noise with no loss of power to trim or blow – all of that inside of a market ready for a makeover.
Lincoln Jore, President and Founder, Core Outdoor Power, has been quoted in the past saying the OPE market has missed the mark on developing alternative energy products that meet performance expectations. He believes the company is onto something with their new gas-free product line and he might be right.
The hybrid power cell in the CORE motor technology makes it capable of storing and delivering large amounts of power in a very small package. Combining these technologies together creates an environmentally clean line of products capable of consuming a large portion of that $15B outdoor power equipment market, which has historically been dominated by two-cycle gas engines.
Yes, there are other OPE companies making green lines, but Jore says the advantage of CORE’s gas-free system comes from the marriage of those two technologies: the CORE motor technology and the lithium-based hybrid power cell.
“Our motors are capable of hitting very high power levels in a very compact package,” said Jore. “We use heavy duty circuit boards and permanent magnets rather than wire windings and iron laminations used in conventional motors. This gives our products considerably higher performance.”
The first application of their technology is in the OPE market, but the company sees other applications as well, such as in the wind energy sector with wind turbines. Jore believes they can leverage the CORE motor technology in a wind turbine power generation system at Boulder Wind Power in Colorado for residential and commercial deployments.
Boulder Wind recently received $34M in funding from Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) and venture capital firm NEA. Molycorp is the Western hemisphere’s only producer of rare earth oxides (REO) and the largest REO producer outside of China. NEA is a key investment player in the clean energy, IT and health care spaces with more than $11 billion in committed capital.
“The technology allows utility-scale power levels in the multi-megawatt range, so both commercial and residential markets are served,” said Jore. “The ultimate goal of Boulder Wind is to offer a CORE generator that allows for the lowest cost energy to all end users, both residential and commercial.”
Jore admits there are always barriers to entry in every market, but states that any technology must be reliable, efficient, and cost-effective to penetrate the wind energy markets. “We believe our technology, which is a direct-drive gearless power generator, enjoys these characteristics and feel it’s a natural extension and application of the technology.”
