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The commenters saying that this is old news and that magnet-free brushless motors have existed for a long time miss the main point. ZF claims to have one that i
by weinzierl 3y ago
The commenters saying that this is old news and that magnet-free brushless motors have existed for a long time miss the main point. ZF claims to have one that is competitive with traditional designs utilizing rare earth materials.
Even ten to fifteen years ago the effort German automakers put into saving a milligram Dysprosium here and there - not only in the drive motor but every electric motor in the vehicle - was insane. I'm out of automotive for a couple of years now, but I can only imagine that this pains must have increased dramatically.
Because of all this effort, a motor without rare earth metals would only have to be nearly as good as the competition to still be a huge deal.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mschuster91 3y ago> Because of all this effort, a motor without rare earth metals would only have to be nearly as good as the competition to still be a huge deal. Even if it were not as good, getting rid of the dependency on rare-earth materials and their dirty supply chain is worth it.
- hamburglar 3y agoIndeed. Dirty, expensive, and bottlenecked.
- specialist 3y agoIIRC, the proper KPI for (EV) vehicles is cost per km traveled. Right? Meaning balancing tradeoffs of performance, cost, weight, etc. (Not to mention mitigating risks, like sourcing and externalities.) It's fascinating to me, as a lurker, that misc EV OEMs are making different choices. Such exciting times. PS- Why'd you leave the automotive industry?
- weinzierl 3y agoI always had a strong interest in security and that's the direction I developed even when still in automotive. When the opportunity came to work for a security company I switched.
- specialist 3y agoNice. The automotive industry needs security skills like yours, now more than ever. :)