How New Motors Could Transform the EV Industry

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Electric vehicles are a big part of the green energy transition but some of their most critical components are made using rare-earth elements. These can be highly toxic and environmentally destructive to mine and refine, with politically-complicated supply chains to boot. Engineers and automakers like Tesla, GM and Stellantis are now racing to build motors that don’t require magnets made from rare earths, but they must figure out how to match the efficiency. WSJ mining and commodities reporter Rhiannon Hoyle speaks with host Danny Lewis about why countries and companies are finding alternatives to rare earths. Plus, Oak Ridge National Laboratory engineer Burak Ozpineci tells us where new motors could take the EV industry. What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] Sign up for the WSJ's free The Future of Everything newsletter. Further reading: For EV Startups, Things Are Going From Bad to Worse Rare-Earth Prices Are in the Doldrums. China Wants to Keep Them That Way. Lynas Bets on New Rare Earths Products, Breaking China Stranglehold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:37.8	As the electric vehicle market has grown and the technology has improved, the part people
0:42.4	usually talk about the most is the battery, which makes sense.
0:46.3	It's the most obvious difference from gas-powered cars and trucks.
0:49.7	It's also the most expensive part of an EV.
0:52.2	But there's another really important piece of technology
0:54.9	critical to making EVs energy efficient that's often overlooked, the motor. And many of the motors
1:01.3	and current electric vehicles rely on magnets made out of a class of metallic elements known as rare
1:06.7	earths. We are talking about more than a dozen different elements that you mostly find toward the bottom of the periodic table, if you remember from school.
1:16.5	Neodymium and serium, the Lanthanum series. You've got dysprosium.
1:21.8	WSJ reporter Riannon Hoyle covers mining and commodities. She says magnets made out of rare earths are used in all sorts of electronics,
1:29.3	from smartphones to electric vehicles.
1:31.3	In an EV, rare earths are used in the powerful magnets in the motors,
1:36.3	helping to convert the electricity stored in the battery to make the wheels spin.
1:42.3	But there's a problem with rare earths.
1:44.5	It's not that they're actually rare.
1:46.5	That name is a bit misleading.
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