China has increased its production quota for rare-earth metals by close to 30% for the first half of this year, according to a report by the Nikkei. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Natural Resources jointly announced that the production quota for the first half of... Read more →

The University of Birmingham is working with Bentley Motors and others on a three-year research project to deliver a sustainable source of rare earth magnets for electric and hybrid vehicles. The £2.6-million (US$3.6-million) RaRE (Rare-earth Recycling for E-machines) project is funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and... Read more →

Australian rare earths exploration and development company RareX Limited entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the leading global rare earths producer, China-based Shenghe Resources Holdings. Shenghe, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, has a market capitalization of approximately US$4.6 billion. It is a leading producer of rare... Read more →

Nidec Corporation’s Board of Directors approved a resolution to acquire the shares of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd. , a company that designs, manufactures, and sells machine tools, cutting tools, and related products. The acquisition of the machine tool business complements Nidec’s existing businesses and strategy. Nidec has... Read more →

In its new report Rare Earths, Outlook to 2030, Roskill forecasts that rare earth magnet applications will account for ~40% of total demand by 2030, raising the potential for a tight supply-demand balance for key magnetic rare earth elements, as well as providing the opportunity for new production capacity to... Read more →

Dana Incorporated has introduced an expanded family of Dana TM4 SUMO HP electric motors and inverters, including the HV1000 and HV2500. The TM4 SUMO family is specifically designed for battery-electric, range-extended, and fuel-cell vehicles. These high-performance motors and inverters are engineered to offer maximum flexibility, enabling direct-drive, series-hybrid, or parallel-hybrid... Read more →

ArcelorMittal is investing €13 million in its Saint Chély d’Apcher plant in France, which specializes in iCARe electrical steels for the automotive sector. The investment means the plant will be able to produce cutting-edge non grain-oriented (NO) iCARe electrical steel grades, through production upgrades and new production capabilities, to meet... Read more →

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have shed new light on the formation mechanisms of a rare earth-bearing mineral that is in increasingly high demand across the globe for its use in the green energy and tech industries. Their discovery has important economic implications because there are no substitute alternatives to... Read more →

Toshiba Corporation has developed a new magnetic material with characteristics that deliver major improvements in motor efficiency at minimum cost, and with the potential to win significant reductions in power consumption. The company says the material is suitable for train drive systems, automobiles, robots and other applications requiring high reliability.... Read more →

LG Electronics and Magna International announced a joint venture (JV) to manufacture e-motors, inverters and on board chargers and, for certain automakers, related e-drive systems to support the growing global shift toward vehicle electrification. The new company, tentatively called LG Magna e-Powertrain, combines Magna’s strength in electric powertrain systems and... Read more →

Aeristech, a developer of electric motor technology, is expanding into aerospace. Aeristech’s aerospace facility will enable the company to begin offering its expertise in market-leading power-dense electric motors and motor controllers to the aerospace sector, including for hydrogen fuel-cell compressors, which will make it possible to reduce aviation emissions. Aeristech’s... Read more →

Porsche has produced its first complete housing for an electric drive using 3D printing. The engine-gearbox unit produced using the additive laser fusion process passed all the quality and stress tests without any problems. This proves that additive manufacturing with all its advantages is also suitable for larger and highly-stressed... Read more →

Rio Tinto unveiled a pathway for the ongoing development of the underground project at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, one of the largest known copper and gold deposits in the world (earlier post). The definitive estimate details how Oyu Tolgoi underground will achieve sustainable production for Panel 0 by October 2022... Read more →

Tula Technology, Inc., a tech leader in improving propulsion efficiency and reducing emissions in passenger cars and commercial vehicles, announced that the one-millionth vehicle utilizing its award-winning Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) technology (earlier post) was produced in November 2020. Unlike cylinder deactivation strategies that shut off a fixed number of... Read more →

Chinese medium and heavy rare earths producer Southern Rare Earth has continued to raise its weekly prices for terbium, holmium, gadolinium and dysprosium, supported by a shortage of spot supplies and firmer magnet demand, according to Argus. Restocking demand from magnet manufacturing plants started to recover from mid-October because of... Read more →

UK-based electrified powertrain engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) announced a strategic expansion of its test facilities, adding two further test cells for high-performance hybrid axles and e-machines. The move reflects a growing demand for outsourced test capacity suitable for electrified powertrains, as the industry prioritizes its development in response... Read more →

MAHLE has commissioned a test bench for electric drives in Stuttgart/Germany. This equipment will be used to develop and test e-axles and e-drive units for a wide range of electric and hybrid vehicles. The first test on a unit was successfully performed on behalf of a customer just a few... Read more →

REE Automotive (REE), the developer of an electric vehicle platform, and Iochpe-Maxion, a multi-billion dollar global leader in the production of automotive wheels and a leading producer of automotive structural components in the Americas, announced a partnership to co-develop and manufacture an exclusive wheel design and chassis solution for REE’s... Read more →

Infinitum Electric, developer of the printed circuit board (PCB) motor (earlier post), announced an agreement with a leading US automotive supplier to support the development of a hybrid vehicle. Under the agreement, Infinitum Electric will validate performance of its IEm Series motor using oil cooling techniques before building a purposefully... Read more →

UK-based tech company Saietta has won a major grant, through the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Center (APC) that will fast-track the first stage of the production process ramp-up for its innovative Axial Flux Traction (AFT) electric motor. Saietta says that its unique AFT technology delivers class-leading performance at the price points... Read more →

While there has been much publicity and technical development towards rare-earth reduction in vehicle motors, in practice the market is seeing an increase in the number of permanent magnet motors. The new IDTechEx report “Materials for Electric Vehicles 2020-2030” finds that in recent years, there has been an increased shift... Read more →

Volvo Cars says that it is making significant investments that allow for the in-house design and development of electric motors for the next generation of Volvo models, as the company continues to move towards becoming a fully electric car maker. The company has opened a new electric motor lab in... Read more →

The 2022 GMC HUMMER EV Edition 1 will be the first vehicle in production with GM’s all-new Ultium battery architecture and will offer a large range of on- and off-road features and vehicle dynamics and performance features. This new architecture provides the framework to integrate advanced technologies for optimal driving... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Critical Materials Institute (CMI) announced selections totaling up to $4 million for four research and development projects to partner with industry to address challenges in establishing domestic supply chains for critical materials. Critical materials are used in many products important to the US economy... Read more →

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have increased the conductivity of copper wire by about 5%—a development that can increase motor efficiency. Higher conductivity also means that less copper is needed for the same efficiency, which can reduce the weight and volume of various components for EVs. Using a... Read more →

Linear Labs has raised an additional $6 million in funding to further develop manufacturing capabilities and grow its employee base. The new capital comes shortly after Linear Labs’ $68.9 million partnership with the City of Fort Worth, Texas, was announced, which includes an incentive package involving Linear Labs’ plans to... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy selected 13 projects to receive approximately $1.95 million in federal funding to develop conceptual designs of commercially viable technologies that will extract rare earth elements (REEs) from US coal and coal by-product sources. Each project will receive up to $150,000... Read more →

Allison Transmission, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions and a supplier of commercial vehicle propulsion solutions, including electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion systems, launched eGen Power, Allison’s new series of fully integrated electric axles. The eGen Power product family, previously referred to as AXE... Read more →

EIT InnoEnergy announced a €4.2-million A+ investment in Elaphe Propulsion Technologies Ltd. (Elaphe), a developer of electric in-wheel-drive technology for electric vehicles. The investment will serve as a springboard to secure further growth. Elaphe’s approach to the in-wheel powertrain system is a fully modular platform, combining the in-wheel powertrain with... Read more →

The European Commission has launched the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) as part of an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials. Initial focus will be rare earth and magnet value chains before extending to other raw materials required for Europe's green and digital transitions. ERMA will be managed by EIT... Read more →

At the start of the new fiscal year on 1 October 2020, thyssenkrupp will commence the operational realignment of its automotive system engineering activities. In the coming months the current System Engineering business unit will be split commercially, operationally and legally into two independent business units. The aim is to... Read more →

Demand growth of the 2020s will soon be dwarfed by the astronomical demand growth of the 2030s, according to a new forecast by Adamas Intelligence. Therein lies the real defining challenge and opportunity facing the global rare earth industry today, the company said. After growing at a CAGR of 6.4%... Read more →

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a composite that increases the electrical current capacity of copper wires, providing a new material that can be scaled for use in ultra-efficient, power-dense electric vehicle traction motors. ORNL scientists used new techniques to create long lengths of a composite copper-carbon nanotube... Read more →

General Motors announced that it will design, develop and manufacture a family of five interchangeable electric drive units and three motors, known collectively as “Ultium Drive.” GM said that Ultium Drive and its modular architecture will help it transition to a fully electric lineup, and provide significant advantages over GM’s... Read more →

Lucid Motors provided some details about it proprietary, in-house developed electric drivetrain that will power the forthcoming pure-electric luxury Lucid Air. With up to 1,080 horsepower available in a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive architecture, the Lucid Air is able to achieve quarter-mile times as low as 9.9 seconds on a consistent, repeatable... Read more →

As magnet rare earth prices rise and supplies become increasingly scarce through the second half of the decade, cerium, lanthanum and terbium will help fill the gap, according to Adamas Intelligence. As Adamas details in a new report, over the past decade, there have been numerous studies demonstrating the potential... Read more →

Traction batteries and motors in electric vehicles (EVs) are very different than the powertrain components of the internal-combustion engine vehicles they replace. Their meteoric rise will lead to much greater demand for several materials markets which otherwise would see only modest growth. For example, while the combustion engine and transmission... Read more →

The Government of Saskatchewan will provide $31 million in funding for a Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, delivering on a key element of the 2030 Growth Plan. The facility will be owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). It will be the first-of-its-kind in Canada and will... Read more →

Vitesco Technologies, formerly (until September 2019) the Continental Powertrain Division, has started the market launch of its fully integrated electric axle drives (EMR3) for Dongfeng Passenger Car Corporation. For Vitesco Technologies this launch is yet another market success and milestone, following the start of production of the EMR3 electric drive... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $20 million for basic research aimed at ensuring a stable US supply of rare earth elements. The research will focus on improving the efficiency of both the use of the elements and their extraction from geological and recycled sources. It will also seek... Read more →

With total magnet rare earth oxide demand forecasted to increase at a CAGR of 9.7% and prices projected to increase at CAGRs of 5.6% to 9.9% over the same period, Adamas Intelligence forecasts that the value of global magnet rare earth oxide consumption will rise five-fold by 2030, from US... Read more →

G+L innotec is an R&D service provider and concentrates on the development of the Media Gap Motor (MGM). The MGM is a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) with the special feature of a hermetically sealed system in which the stator inner diameter is oversized in relation to the rotor or... Read more →

Bentley Motors has launched a three-year research study on electric vehicle powertrains, utilizing a fully integrated, free from rare-earth magnet e-axle that supports electric vehicle architectures. This reinforces Bentley’s ambition to lead sustainable luxury mobility and introduce the first fully electric Bentley by 2026. The study, titled OCTOPUS (Optimized Components,... Read more →

BorgWarner is building an Integrated Drive Module (iDM) for Ford’s new all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV. The iDM comes complete with a BorgWarner thermal-management system and gearbox integrated with a motor and power electronics from other suppliers, and showcases the company’s system integration expertise. The iDM comes complete with a BorgWarner... Read more →

Following recent success with white-label manufacturing for corporate customers in the automotive, HVAC and premium efficiency industrial motor industries, smart electric motor company Linear Labs (earlier post) announced a major milestone as it will be mass producing its high-torque M200 e-mobility motor for off-the-shelf use starting this September. The announcement... Read more →

In the UK, the competition for the first £10 million (US$13 million) of a new £1-billion (US$1.3 billion) Automotive Transformation Fund has begun. The overall program will offer a share of up to £1 billion of funding for industrial research and capital projects. The aim is to support the industrialization... Read more →

BluE Nexus Corporation (earlier post) and Toyota Motor Corporation will collaborate to prepare for the accelerated adoption of electrified vehicles by working together to increase their competitiveness in products related to electrification as well as to fortify their sales structure, including their technical support and services, among others, rendered to... Read more →

The BMW Group has opened the Competence Center for E-Drive Production at its largest European manufacturing location in Dingolfing. Having produced electric powertrain components in Dingolfing since 2013, the BMW Group is now expanding its capacity significantly. Production of the highly integrated BMW e-drive—final assembly Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder and... Read more →

Danfoss Editron has been selected by Danish shipbuilder and operator MHO-Co to deliver the drivetrain systems that will power the UK’s first two hybrid crew transfer vessels (CTV). The CTVs will serve Ørsted’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, which will be located approximately 55 miles off the Yorkshire coast in... Read more →

The City of Fort Worth, Texas has approved a $68.9-million economic incentive package for electric-motor-manufacturer Linear Labs (earlier post) to further solidify the city as the next tech innovation hub. Linear Labs plans to secure a 500,000-square-foot facility for advanced, smart manufacturing to support thousands of new, skilled jobs over... Read more →