By JIMMY LAWTON

POTSDAM -- A small engineering company is preparing to move its prototype motor from the development phase into production with hopes of gaining a foothold in the global electric engine market.

L.C. Drives, led by CEO Russ Marvin, is seeking $600,000 to move as part of a $3 million initiative that will allow the company to move into production.

The company currently employs around 10 full and part-time engineers and occupies space in Clarkson’s Shipley Center as part of the StartUp NY tax free zone. It also operates in a second facility located near the Potsdam Airport.

Marvin says LC Drives will continue to move forward with, or without, the $600,000 grant from New York State, but says the transition to the production phase will be accelerated if the money is awarded. When that occurs, 10 jobs are expected to be added.

LC Drives has developed a new electric motor that is significantly smaller than what is currently being used by wind, hydro and commercial transportation industries.

The motor uses a special cooling system that allows it to cool faster. Marvin says that by using the technology the company can build a 50-horsepower motor in in a frame that would normally house a 5-horsepower motor.

Marvin says the implications for the motor are huge.

“If you look at the overall impact of what this is, we are in a good place to be. Electric machines use 47 percent of the world’s electricity, so coming up with smaller more efficient motors puts us in a very good place,” he says.

For most applications, Marvin says the motors created by LC Drives are about half the size of those they replace. For something the size of a wind turbine these means massive savings in construction costs.

“Because our motors are smaller, we can build them for less money,” he says.

Marvin says a typical wind turbine motor would weigh 11 to 12 tons, but using LC Drives technology that weight could be reduced to 4 or 5 tons.

Marvin says that savings translates well beyond the cost of the engine, because less weight at the top of a wind tower, means less support is needed to suspend it, bringing down the overall cost of production.

Although wind is one are the company hopes to branch into, it is not the only application. Marvin says similar savings could be in the hydroelectric industry.

Matt Draper, executive director of Clarkson’s Shipley Center, says LC Drives is a prime example of how the incubator is supposed to work.

“It speaks to the mission of what we are trying to do. We aim to incubate and start businesses,” he says.

Marvin is a Clarkson graduate and former CEO of the wind turbine company Optiwind, which closed in 2013.