Toyota Tries to Break Reliance on China
Company Seeks to Develop Electric Motor Without Costly, Tightly Controlled Rare Earth Metals.
Toyota Motor Corp. is striving to develop a new type of electric motor to escape a simmering trade conflict involving China’s grip on a rare mineral.
The Japanese auto maker believes it is near a breakthrough in developing electric motors for hybrid cars that eliminates the use of rare earth metals, whose prices have risen sharply in the past year as China restricted supply. The minerals are found in the magnets used in the motors.
Today, most engine motors used in electric and hybrid cars use a different type of motor that relies on permanent magnets. These magnets always have a magnetic field; think of those magnets that are holding your kids report cards up on your fridge.