汽車業的完美理想：不依賴中國稀土的馬達（1/2）

 Recently the New York Times reported the following:

An Auto Holy Grail: Motors That Don’t Rely on Chinese Rare Earths (1/2)

Weary of being captive to geopolitics, car companies are looking for ways to replace powerful rare-earth magnets in electric motors.

By Jack Ewing - Reporting from Sunnyvale, Calif., and New York

Nov. 24, 2025

Stunned by frequent shortages of essential materials from China, automakers in the United States 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 like windshield wiper motors and the mechanisms that allow seats to be adjusted.

Magnets made with the 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 mining and processing of most rare earths and has used its near monopoly as a diplomatic weapon. This year, it imposed controls on exports of some of those materials in apparent retaliation for President 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 don’t 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 synthesize materials that have promising magnetic properties and are found only in meteorites.

Start-ups have begun developing new kinds of motors and other technologies. And the Department of Energy is encouraging that work, despite the Trump administration’s rollback of other forms of support for electric vehicles.

Many of these efforts won’t bear fruit for years. And substitute technologies like those used by BMW can be more expensive or have other drawbacks. For the time being, the industry remains extremely vulnerable to shortages that could bring assembly lines to a halt.

“This isn’t a challenge you can overcome in a year,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

This month, Beijing suspended some of its rare-earth export controls as part of an agreement with the Trump administration. But controls remain a threat as tensions between the United States and China continue.

“There is now sort of a détente,” said Tom Moerenhout, who leads the Critical Materials Initiative at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “But the question is not will there be a next event where rare earths are being weaponized, but rather when.”

The auto industry has reckoned with rare-earth shortages before. Beginning in 2010, China choked off supplies, leading to a dispute with the Obama administration.

The coronavirus pandemic, which caused severe shortages of semiconductors and other components, reinforced the dangers of depending too much on a few suppliers or vendors from one country. As a result, many automakers began looking for alternatives.

Carmakers can use two strategies to keep their assembly lines running. They can find rare earths outside China, or they can switch to components that don’t require those metals.

General Motors is pursuing the first strategy with MP Materials, an American company that is mining rare earths in California. MP is also building a facility in Texas to refine the materials and use them to make magnets. Under an agreement announced in 2021, G.M. has promised to buy most of the output of the Texas factory for use in Cadillacs and Chevrolets. MP also has agreements with Apple and the Defense Department.

Such agreements provide companies like MP guaranteed revenue, something that wasn’t available to rare-earth companies and processors that went bankrupt after previous crises when prices fell so much that they couldn’t compete with Chinese suppliers. MP acquired its site in California from one such bankrupt company.

But there is also a risk to automakers like G.M. They may wind up paying more than other manufacturers if shortages ease and prices fall again.

(to be continued)

Translation

汽車業的完美理想：不依賴中國稀土的馬達（1/2）

汽車公司厭倦了受制於地緣政治，正在尋找替代馬達中強力稀土磁鐵的方法。

由於中國關鍵原材料頻繁短缺所震驚，美國和歐洲的汽車製造商正悄悄地嘗試減少或消除對這些捲入超級大國競爭的材料的需求。

這些公司正在探索能夠取代稀土金屬磁鐵的技術和特殊材料。這些磁鐵被廣泛應用於各種汽車和貨車的數十個零件中，例如擋風玻璃水撥和調較座椅裝置。

釹、鏑和铽等稀土元素製成的磁鐵對於電動車和混合動力車的馬達尤其重要，而電動車和混合動力車正變得越來越普及。

中國主導大部分稀土的開採和加工，並利用其近乎壟斷的地位作為外交武器。今年，中國對部分稀土材料的出口實施了管制，顯然是為了報復特朗普總統對中國商品加徵的高額關稅。

近期稀土供應的不穩定性對汽車製造商的威脅遠超過以往。這使得尋找無需稀土的馬達或替代材料變得更加迫切。

BMW的電動車已經使用了無需稀土的馬達。東北大學和其他機構的研究人員正在努力合成出一種具有優異磁性且僅在隕石中見過的材料。

一些初創公司已經開始研發新型馬達和其他相關技術。儘管特朗普政府削減了對電動車的其他支持，但美國能源部仍在鼓勵這項工作。

許多此類努力需要數年時間才能見效。而且，像BMW使用的替代技術可能成本更高，或者有其他缺陷。目前，該行業仍極易受到短缺的影響，一旦短缺，生產線就可能停工

華盛頓戰略與國際研究中心關鍵礦產安全計劃主任Gracelin Baskaran表示:「這不是在一年就能克服的挑戰」。

本月，北京根據與特朗普政府達成的協議，暫停了部分稀土出口管制。但由於美中之間的緊張關係持續存在，管制仍在構成威脅。

哥倫比亞大學全球能源政策中心關鍵材料倡議負責人Tom Moerenhout 表示: 「現在情況有所緩和」; 「但問題不在於是否還會出現稀土武器化的事件，而在於何時會發生」。

汽車業先前曾經面臨稀土短缺問題。 2010年，中國切斷了稀土供應，導致與奧巴馬政府發生爭端。

新冠疫情導致半導體和其他零件嚴重短缺，凸顯了過度依賴少數國家供應商的風險。因此，許多汽車製造商開始尋找替代方案。

汽車製造商可以採取兩種策略來維持生產線運作：一是在中國以外地區尋找稀土；二是改用不需要這些金屬的零件。

通用汽車正與美國公司MP Materials合作，採用第一種策略。 MP Materials在加州開採稀土礦，並在德克薩斯州建造一座工廠，用於提煉稀土並將其用於製造磁鐵。根據2021年宣布的一項協議，通用汽車承諾購買該德州工廠的大部分產品，用於Cadillacs和Chevrolets車型。 MP Materials也與蘋果公司和美國國防部達成了合作協議。

此類協議為像MP這樣的公司提供了穩定的收入保障，而先前的稀土公司和加工商卻無法獲得這種保障。在先前的危機中，由於價格暴跌，它們無力與中國供應商競爭，最終破產倒閉。 MP位於加州的廠址正是從一家破產公司手中收購的。

但通用汽車等汽車製造商也面臨風險。如果短缺緩解，價格再次下跌，它們最終可能需要支付高於其他製造商的價格。

（待續）