Western carmakers seeking motors that don’t need Chinese rare earths

Move to rely less on Chinese supplies to avoid shortages amid superpower rivalries

- Jack Ewing

BMW vehicles leaving a car carrier ship at the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, on Oct 7. The German carmaker uses motors without neodymium or other rare earths in its electric vehicle models like the iX sport utility vehicle, after a spike in the price of neodymium around 2011 prompted it to develop the technology. PHOTO: AFP

(AFP)

Stunned by frequent shortages of essential materials from China, automakers in the US and Europe are quietly trying to reduce or eliminate the need for materials that have become entangled in superpower rivalries.

The companies are exploring technologies and exotic materials that could replace magnets made with rare earth metals that are used in dozens of parts in cars and trucks of all kinds. They include components such as windshield wiper motors and the mechanisms that allow seats to be adjusted.

Magnets made with rare earth elements neodymium, dysprosium and terbium are especially important for the motors that move electric vehicles and hybrids, which are becoming more popular.

China dominates the mining and processing of most rare earths and has used its near monopoly as a diplomatic weapon. In 2025, it imposed controls on exports of some of those materials in apparent retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s stiff tariffs on Chinese goods.

The recent instability in rare earth supplies is a much bigger threat to automakers than in the past. It has given new urgency to the search for motors that do not need rare earths or for materials that would replace them.

BMW’s electric vehicles already use motors that operate without rare earths. Researchers at Northeastern University and other institutions are working to synthesise materials that have promising magnetic properties and are found only in meteorites.