I would say that their ESCs are definitely in the hobbyist/consumer range of builds, and don’t exactly offer any unique performance options compared to other cheaper off the shelf alternatives. The three biggest factors that go into the value/quality of an ESC are firmware architecture, current handling, and precision control, and then ideally optimizing for a low amount of vendor lock-in compatibility wise (for instance KDEs ESCs are designed to be used specifically with their motors). I would be interested in learning about which ESC producer(s) you're in talks with so I could provide feedback on them as well if you'd like.

________________________________
From: Rick <rick@mavrix.one>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2025 7:21:45 AM
To: Jason Blick <jason@corvexsystems.com>
Subject: Re: KDEDirect

Ok. Thanks for this. Very helpful. I also feel they are too high in price or Gucci at best. Tell me about the ESC’s. Obviously we will be building our own thru another US company. Anything special about theirs or is that not your expertise?
Thanks again!
Rick


Rick Mislan, PhD
https://mavrix.one<https://mavrix.one
https://mavrix.one
https://mavrix.one>
[X]

On June 20, 2025 at 10:02:43 AM, Jason Blick (jason@corvexsystems.com<mailto:jason@corvexsystems.com>) wrote:

KDE Direct is a company that we have had our eye on since day one, and who very much represents the old paradigm of UAV motor production in the states. As you can tell from their videos, they're very much a low volume operation which currently doesn't even offer any motors in the 1000 - 2000 KV range for direct sale (a large portion of the motors listed on their site are not actually available for purchase, they are just listed as references from past listings suggesting they have highly reduced their scope of focus), which essentially limits their market exposure to purely heavy lift use cases, and the majority of demand over the next 10 years will be driven by light lift/attritable use cases in that higher range. They also have a very low degree of vertical integration, I've spoken with a former employee of theirs and an overseas stator manufacturer that is a supplier to them, and they rely heavily on foreign outsourcing for fabrication of all their subcomponents. You will also notice that even with the limited range of thrusts offered through their motor line, they are not competitive at all with the Chinese supply side on price, with an average premium of 3-4x, and this is primarily due to the low volume and low vertical integration that they operate with. They seem to be a company that is basically in stagnation at best, and terminal decline at worst, and I think this is because they spread themselves too thin trying to provide additional UAV components like ESCs and Propellors, instead of building out their motor production capacity in a manner that was conducive to scaling. They have these sections on their site which lay claim to robotics and manufacturing related use cases, but as we've already seen they only offer product for a narrow range of UAV use cases. They've basically just been slowly declining over the last ten years and don't seem to have the ambition, leadership, or vision to represent the new paradigm of motor production, and are too over built in this outsourced/low volume operating model to adapt to it even if they wanted to.
________________________________
From: Rick <rick@mavrix.one>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2025 4:54 AM
To: Jason Blick <jason@corvexsystems.com>
Subject: KDEDirect

Talk to me about these guys and their products:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1iUb-3vwwQ

Thanks,
Rick

Rick Mislan, PhD
https://mavrix.one<https://mavrix.onehttps://mavrix.onehttps://mavrix.one>
[X]
