Tesla to eliminate rare earths from its next generation EVs
As auto-makers take up the carbon-neutral challenge, Tesla will attempt to combat one of the biggest environmental concerns around EVs by ditching rare earth elements.
Tesla will attempt to combat one of the biggest environmental concerns around electric vehicles with its next generation motor technology by ditching rare earth elements.
As the automotive world attempts to move towards a carbon-neutral future by increasing the number of electric cars, critics have often cited the use of rare earth materials in the production of electric motors and batteries as a significant problem.
Tesla has said it will stop using rare earth elements, such as neodymium and praseodymium, in its future electric motors, which would have a positive impact on the brand’s environmental credentials.
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Neodymium and praseodymium are typically used in the production of electric motors, in Tesla’s case, specifically in its DC permanent magnet motors.
Speaking at its annual Investor Day, Tesla’s VP of Powertrain Engineering, Colin Campbell, outlined the company’s plans to cut back on rare earth elements in a bid for greater efficiency and lower environmental impact.
“As the world transitions to clean energy, the demand for rare earths is really increasing dramatically,” Campbell said. “Not only is it going to be a little hard to meet that demand, but mining that rare earth has environmental and health risks.
“We want to do better than this. So we have designed our next drive unit, which uses a permanent magnet motor, to not use any rare earth materials at all.
“So … we can make lower-cost products that are still efficient and compelling, and we can make them at scale.
“We can use less constrained commodities – silicon carbide and rare earths. We’re going to build them all in compact, high output factories that are easy for us to build quickly.”
Currently the motor in the Model Y uses around 520g of rare earth elements, but according to Tesla’s presentation its so-called Next Generation Permanent Magnet Motor will take that figure down to 0g.
Tesla hasn’t provided a time frame on when this New Generation motor will be introduced, so it’s unclear when customers will be able to benefit from this technological breakthrough.
According to Campbell, Tesla has been gradually reducing the amount of rare earth elements in its current motor. Between 2017 and 2022, the company reportedly used 25 per cent less heavy rare earth materials for the motors in the Model 3.
Crucially, Tesla has confirmed its new motor will remain a permanent magnet type. This is important because a variety of electric cars already use AC induction motors that don’t require rare earth elements. However, these induction motors are often less power dense, less efficient and require more cooling.
So if Tesla is able to produce a permanent magnet motor that is more efficient, more energy dense and still requires no rare earth materials it would be a win-win for both the car maker and its customers.
However, it will depend on what material Tesla replaces it with. General Motors has already developed a permanent magnet motor using a ferrite-based magnet, which combines ceramic material with iron oxide.
Adamas Intelligence, a market research service that focuses on the mining sector, played down the significance of Tesla’s plans.
“The media and market’s reaction to the news has been largely overblown, speaking to a broad misunderstanding of the [neodymium] market’s supply and demand fundamentals,” Adamas Intelligence said, in its response to Tesla’s announcement.
“Looking forward to 2035, Adamas forecasts that global demand for [neodymium] magnets will triple while global production will only double, constrained by long lead times to bring online new rare earth oxide production. In relation to the magnitude of the expected supply gap, a three to four per cent drop in demand by 2035 would go virtually unnoticed.”
However, the report also noted that there are industry concerns around the sourcing of neodymium from China and Myanmar, as it can have a significant carbon impact in the production of electric vehicles.
Cars get cheaper as key costs fall Cheaper cars as costs fall
The cost to buy an electric vehicle is beginning to come down, making EVs more accessible than ever, but what does this mean automotive brands?
Can battery metals be sourced sustainably?
What are the environmental costs behind sourcing the metals for the batteries that power our electric vehicles?