There seems to be plenty of R&D around these days for developing rare earth free motors which are better than the standard induction motor (which, per se, isn't

There seems to be plenty of R&D around these days for developing rare earth free motors which are better than the standard induction motor (which, per se, isn't bad, but if you can do better, why not). Here's an EU project that designed and compared induction, synchronous reluctance, and synchronous reluctance with ferrite magnets in the rotor: http://www.refreedrive.eu http://www.refreedrive.eu