This 17-Year-Old Designed a Motor That Could Potentially Transform the Electric Car Industry

17-year-old inventor Robert Sansone has designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor that could potentially transform the electric car industry. His prototype exhibits greater torque and efficiency than existing models, using copper instead of rare-earth materials, which are costly to extract. Sansone’s design won first prize at this year’s Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), and he hopes to patent the technology in the future for use in electric vehicles.