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Honda Unveils First Hybrid Motor Without Heavy Rare Earth Metals (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Honda has unveiled its new hybrid motor this week that doesn't use heavy rare earth metals like dysprosium and terbium -- though it still does contain neodymium. The motor was co-developed alongside Daido Steel and will use their magnets in replace of the rare earth metals because they cost 10 percent less and weigh 8 percent less. Honda is the first automaker to develop a hybrid motor that doesn't use heavy rare earth metals. The company says the new engines will reduce its reliance on the metals that are primarily supplied by China. They're expected to make their debut in the compact Freed minivan this fall, a vehicle that is already on the road in Asia.
The Tesla has an AC induction motor (invented by Nicolai Tesla) which is just steel and copper. No rare earth magnets... no magnets at all.
It's about time the rest of the auto industry woke up and started putting some "advanced technology" in their fossil fuel powered cars.
https://www.teslamotors.com/bl...
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Rare earth metals aren't all that rare. It's just that other countries don't want to destroy their environments mining them.
This is pure lip service. Guess where they get all their steel that composes 80% of the car from? Yeah, it's all coming from China anyway, so this is meaningless.
First, steel does not compose 80% of a vehicle. The number is somewhere around 55% on average though it obviously varies by vehicle and it is about 25% of the cost of the vehicle. Second, Japanese car manufacturers do get some steel from China but they also get a very substantial amount domestically. Japan has a fairly robust domestic steel industry including 2 of the 10 biggest steel makers by volume in the world. There are also numerous steel suppliers who have no production in China at all. It's definitely not "all coming from China". Third, "the metals that are primarily supplied by China" they are talking about are rare earth elements, not comparatively common metals like steel. Don't conflate the two. Japan could in principle source all their steel from somewhere other than China if they wanted to. For rare earths, China is basically the only game in town right now. Totally different markets.
It's not due to supply, but rather the cost of extraction. Both the United States and Australia (among others) have good supplies of many rare earth metals (as well as reserves of some rare metals that China has very little of such as Tantalum) but due to China's devil may care attitude towards environmental regulations, they can extract theirs at far lower costs than other countries, and if anyone else were attempt to start, there's no doubt that China would cut prices temporarily to destroy the competition.
Even if we were mining it ourselves, we'd ship most of it to China anyhow as that's where most of it would be put into manufacturing components that require those elements.
If you eliminate the rare earth magnets, you still need the magnetic field to make an electric motor go. After all, electric motors are really just using magnetic forces to turn the shaft of the motor. You can generate this magnetic field from rare earths or by using electromagnets. Electromagnets involve passing an electric current though copper windings. Generating this magnetic field consumes power (the IR losses in the wire to heat and the Flux losses from the running motor), lowering your motor's efficiency.
However, I would like to point out that by using electromagnets you can drastically change the motor's torque at a given RPM, so where the motor is less efficient, it's partially offset by less of a need for gear boxes and transmissions because you can get huge amounts of torque out of electric motors at various RPMs if you can precisely control both the field and armature currents and phases. (Actually this is why they use them on train locomotives..)
So, there are advantages, but you are going to get less miles out of your battery's charge if you don't have the rare earth magnets, and right now, the range and recharge times are a serious blocker for adoption of EV's so manufacturers are pushing for all the range they can get.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Actually, it is not a big deal to mine them. The problem is, that China is manipulating this market in a HUGE way. Moly Corp in America has a clean means of mining. BUT, when they invested loads of money into it, then China dumped REE on the market and plummetted the price. Sadly, the west allowed it. And Moly Corp booted the old CEO, and brought in a Canadian who was very friendly with China. So, he shut down EVERYTHING in the west and pushed it all to CHina. Now, they are back in control, while this Canadian CEO is worth 100s' of millions over this BS.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I hate to break it to you but the synchronous motors used in most hybrids and EVs require AC as well. All brushless motors require AC in order to generate a rotating magnetic field. In fact, the controllers are not all that different between an induction and a synchronous motor. The synchronous motor is dependent on the rotor position whereas the induction motor is dependent on the rotors speed. The actual drive of the motor coils is similar.
Generating AC from DC is actually not difficult with modern semiconductors which can handle a tremendous amount of current and they've also proven to be quite reliable as well. Every modern hybrid and EV ever made requires AC to drive the motor, regardless if it is an induction motor or not.
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My auto body instructor told me. He was ASE master certified, which means he knew a thing or three.
Doesn't mean he knew shit about supply chains and he certainly didn't know anything about steel refineries. I have worked in the auto industry for over 15 years as an engineer and have done purchasing for big and small automotive companies including steel frame components. Your ASE certified instructor didn't know what he was talking about in this case. Sounds to me like he was making shit up because he didn't like Japanese vehicles for whatever reason since it is wildly untrue that Japanese cars are made from recycled American cars. Talk to a materials engineer for correct information, not a guy who knows his way around a welding gun.
The hardness and brittleness of steel is a function of the grain structure and alloy of the steel among a few other things. It has nothing to do with whether it was recycled steel or created from ore. You could put both under a spectrometer or electron microscope and chances are you would be unable to tell any difference if they were made to the same spec.