Toyota May Have Found a Way to Avoid Using Rare Earth Metals (TM, GM, HMC, MCP)
Researchers at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) have been able to develop a new type of motor for the company’s hybrid cars that does not include the use of the expensive rare earth minerals lanthanum, neodymium, and dysprosium. The battery…
Researchers at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) have been able to develop a new type of motor for the company’s hybrid cars that does not include the use of the expensive rare earth minerals lanthanum, neodymium, and dysprosium.
The battery in a Toyota Prius now uses about 20 pounds of lanthanum and motor magnets use the other two rare earths. Lanthanum currently costs about $129/pound, about six times what it cost only a year ago.
Other carmakers like General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) with its Chevy Volt, Honda Motor Corp. (NYSE: HMC) with its Insight, and Nissan and its all-electric Leaf could benefit from the new technology. Rare earth producers in China will feel the pinch, as perhaps will other rare earth miners like Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) and others in the US, Canada, and Australia that have yet to begin mining operations.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
