As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Jack Lifton calls the Prius "the biggest user of rare earths of any object in the world."

Steve Gorman - REUTERS - August 31, 2009

More sensationalism. Haven't any of these guys heard of recycling? --Ed.

LOS ANGELES - The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods.

That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.

Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tons annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed. One promising U.S. source is a rare earths mine slated to reopen in California by 2012.

Among the rare earths that would be most affected in a shortage is neodymium, the key component of an alloy used to make the high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus, as well as in generators for wind turbines.

Close cousins terbium and dysprosium are added in smaller amounts to the alloy to preserve neodymium's magnetic properties at high temperatures. Yet another rare earth metal, lanthanum, is a major ingredient for hybrid car batteries.

Production of both hybrids cars and wind turbines is expected to climb sharply amid the clamor for cleaner transportation and energy alternatives that reduce dependence on fossil fuels blamed for global climate change.

Toyota has 70 percent of the U.S. market for vehicles powered by a combination of an internal-combustion engine and... [Read More]

[Earthling]

And gas hogs gobble petroleum, which will become scarce soon, especially with America's love affair with FSP hulks.

Harry

[rdprice64]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

... hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus ...

Did I miss the official announcement on the Focus Hybrid? I'm ready for one!

Back on point though, the minerals within the battery packs are a concern, but battery technology seems to be progressing at a fairly rapid clip. After all, how many different types of rechargeable batteries have we seen in the last ten years NiCad, NiMH, Lithium Ion, and there seem to new ones being developed all the time. It seems like as we discover higher capacity minerals that we will find the right combination to balance out the demand.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by rdprice64

After all, how many different types of rechargeable batteries have we seen in the last ten years NiCad, NiMH, Lithium Ion, and there seem to new ones being developed all the time.

Battery technology development is not as fast as you think. NiCad was around in the late 1800s and entered the consumer market in the mid-40s. NiMH entered the market in the late 80s. Li-Ion entered the market in the early 90's but did not become today's lithium iron phosphate batteries until the mid 90s. That was about 15 years ago.

Since the mid 90s there have been only small, incremental changes to existing battery technology (e.g. doping the cathode material of Li-Ion batteries), and microscale experimental applications of nanometric batteries.

[Radio_tec]

This sounds a lot like the lithium shortage argument. It turns out that lithium is not the major material used in lithium ion batteries. Lithium is also the 30th most abundant material on earth.

Materials science is the art of working within the periodical table of the elements to produce the right properties in materials at low cost with available resources. There may very well be a solution to this problem.

What is certain is that there is a material energy resource, oil, that will not be sustainable and by the Merrill Lynch report's account there will be a 30 million barrel per day drop in non-OPEC oil production by 2015 which will certainly put an end to the "happy motoring" lifestyle we are currently accustomed to.

[GrnHrnt]

And unlike petroleum wouldn't the materials in the battery be recyclable so they could reclaim the rare earth metals etc?

[jpleong]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't "Rare Earths" not actually rare (aside from Promethium)?

I like this line: "...most affected in a shortage is neodymium..." which is probably the most common rare earth metal I have ever seen. No one complains about their use in microphones, speakers, and (the biggie) computer hard drives.

Maybe we should re-classify fossil fuels as "Rare Earth Fuels?" That'd get the attention of people, right?

JP

[Chuck]

Another plug for Toyota gently dispelling and ridiculing some of this anti-hybrid drivel in ads.

[Tochatihu]

Mining and reserves data are free here:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pu...y/rare_earths/

But the better detail seems to be proprietary and/or pay per view.

There certainly appear to be tradeoffs for emission-catalytic REE for big-engined petroleum vehicles, versus smaller engined hybrids and no-engine EVs. Also petroleum refining uses a lot of REE catalysts.

TVs and computers are not as effectively recycled, is seems, compared to big chunks like cars. I'd still like to know how much REEs go into fireworks, but i'm not going to pay $3000 to find out

A future where EVs dominate personal transportation is certainly one where REE sourcing and recycling will be important. The politicals of international trade won't end even with petroleum off the table. Interesting times...

edit, the article's lanthanum (battery) number must be wrong, I think

DAS