EV motor is ‘first’ to avoid the use of ‘heavy’ rare-earths

With demand for the high-performance magnets-used in both hybrid and electric vehicles-expected to grow rapidly as the popularity of gas-powered cars ebbs, the breakthrough could have a significant impact on the cost of cleaner vehicles. As a result, the hot deformed neodymium magnet that contains absolutely no heavy rare earth became usable for the drive motor of a hybrid vehicle, demonstrating torque, output and heat resistance performance equivalent to those of a motor that uses the conventional type of magnet. A critical component of this production is the motor of these vehicles which was heavily dependent on the heavy rare earth metals to be procured from China.

Their replacement, neodymium, is also a rare earth metal and is also found in China, as well as Australia, the U.S, Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka. The automaker said the new motor will reduce the company’s dependency on the expensive materials that are mainly supplied by China.

Honda said it plans to use the motor in new auto models moving forward.

Honda will deploy the motor this fall in a hybrid variant of its Freed, a Japan-market subcompact minivan based on the Fit architecture.

Daido’s hot deformation method aligns crystal grains on the nanometer scale.

As per the company, Daido’s sister concern, Daido Electronics has come up with a hot-deformation method of producing the aforementioned Neodynamic magnets, which is quite different from the regular sintering process and lends the magnet with remarkable heat resistance properties by arranging its crystal structure in a tight packaged form.

(1) Heavy rare earth is one of three (light, medium and heavy) categories of rare earth. Persistent friction between China and Japan, including territory disputes, adds additional pressure to seek alternative technologies.

It’s not called the Honda Motor Company for nothing.

“A reduction in the use of heavy rare earth elements has been one of the major challenges needing to be addressed”, the companies said in a joint release. These materials are used to manufacture a wide range of products ranging from smartphones to cruise missiles and electric cars.

Honda, the Japanese auto giant is known for bringing a number of new and exciting technologies to the automotive world.

Next month, Daido Electronics will start to mass-produce the new magnets on a production line built with support from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.