Tau Motors used Climate Week NYC 2026 to set out the research behind its approach to electrification, the company said. Nineteen technical papers from Tau and its partners at the Columbia Center of Advanced Electrification are listed in the program for the 2026 IEEE/CCAE Symposium on Advanced Electrification Systems. At the Columbia University event, founder and chief executive Wesley Pennington took part in a fireside chat on how combining power electronics, electric machines and software can speed up electrification.
The papers cover power conversion and control, electric machine modeling, energy storage and grid-connected systems, according to the company. Tau said the work reflects its continued investment in power conversion, controls and electric machine engineering, which it describes as central to its Ion and Gamma platforms, and that the papers also show the breadth of its work across sustainable energy systems.
Ion pairs modular power electronics with firmware and software libraries for use in mobility, industrial equipment, energy infrastructure and data centers, the company said. Gamma, its electric machine platform, integrates machine design, power electronics and controls and is intended to enable rare-earth-free motion.
At the September 25 symposium, Pennington appeared with Matthias Preindl, an associate professor at Columbia University and Tau's chief scientist, for a discussion of the "electro-industrial stack" and what becomes possible when power electronics, electric machines and software are designed together. The conversation examined how programmable architectures can improve system performance, reduce material dependencies and accelerate deployment across transportation, industry and digital infrastructure. Speakers from GM Energy, Siemens and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also took part, alongside researchers and other industry participants.
Pennington said accelerating electrification means making the systems that convert and control power more efficient, more affordable and easier to deploy. Designing power electronics, electric machines and software together allows the entire system to be optimized, he said, adding that Tau is building a software-defined power platform to give industry greater control over performance, costs and supply chains and to accelerate deployment at scale. Tau established the Columbia Center of Advanced Electrification with Columbia Engineering to connect advanced research with the practical requirements of industrial applications, and the company said the work addresses challenges that influence efficiency, reliability and the ability to deploy electric systems across a wider range of uses.
