Eco Friendly Hybrids Could Make Rare Metals a Thing of the Past
Hybrid cars are often marketed as Eco Friendly and this is mainly the case in terms of fuel efficiency and the way parts of the cars can be recycled, however when you add in the question of sustainability a rather large black cloud is forming.
Hybrid cars rely heavily on large electric motors and battery technology to provide power when petrol or diesel is not needed, but these parts are heavy users of the earths rarest metals.
Reuters have recently released a report which shows that these rare metals are soon to be in shirt supply, within several years, making an alternative source metal to be found as a priority.
This puts the hybrid car manufacturers, the most popular of which are Toyota, Honda & Ford in a tricky predicament as the supply will no doubt be limited as Chine squeezes it’s exports as the demand inevitably balloons..
There are 15 rare earths on the periodic table of elements, and neodymium, an important component of an alloy used in high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors and generators for wind turbines is, for the time being, the most at risk, however, lanthanum, is a major ingredient in hybrid car batteries as this too is soon to be threatened.
It is clear therefore that the design of these hybrid cars, needs to be refined to avoid vast amounts of these rare metals being used to the point of extinction..
Reuters reports:
Each electric Prius motor requires 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of neodymium, and each battery uses 10 to 15 kg (22-33 lb) of lanthanum. That number will nearly double under Toyota’s plans to boost the car’s fuel economy, he said.
Toyota plans to sell 100,000 Prius cars in the United States alone for 2009, and 180,000 next year. The company forecasts sales of 1 million units per year starting in 2010.
It unfortunately appears that the fear for the low supply of Oil is also fast turning into a gold rush for rare earth reserves.
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Environment News | admin | 
April 10, 2010 9:17 am
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