Commercial
Electric Vehicles
What it is
A permanent-magnet motor is smaller and more efficient than the induction alternative, which is why almost every carmaker uses one — and why every one of them is exposed to rare-earth supply.
The material bill
Scale it up →Quantities are per motorindicative range
Read these as “about this much, give or take”. Every manufacturer’s design differs, and the numbers fall over time as engineers learn to use less of the expensive things.
| Material | Low | High | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron & Steel | 20.00 | 40.00 | kg | Electrical steel laminations |
| Copper critical | 8.00 | 20.00 | kg | Stator windings |
| Neodymium critical | 0.4 | 1.00 | kg | Contained in the rotor magnets |
| Dysprosium critical | 0.02 | 0.1 | kg | Heat resistance |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Rows marked “trace” contain the material in quantities too small to state usefully as a mass — the constraint there is purity or supplier count, not tonnage.
The alternatives
Substitution is the most underrated force in materials. When a metal gets expensive or politically difficult, engineers design around it — and demand for a whole mine can evaporate.
