Amid supply risks, Tata Motors cuts rare earth use in new EV by a third

Global EV makers and suppliers too are working on reducing the rare earths, with Tesla announcing the  creation of a permanent magnet electric vehicle motor with zero rare earth element at its Investor Day event earlier this year. Japanese metal maker Proterial, formerly known as Hitachi Metals, has also developed a prototype motor for electric vehicles that uses magnets that do not contain the rare-earth metal neodymium and a switch to a new magnet mainly composed of ferrite.

“We have used a new generation motor in the latest Nexon EV, which has lesser energy consumption but is more cost effective. We have used a lot of the localisation benefits… In the motor we have used lesser content of rare earth elements… The 1.4 billion kilometre data reading that we have helped us,” Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, told The Indian Express.

The rare earth elements in an EV are used in electric car motors ad not the batteries. A permanent magnet motor uses magnets embedded into or attached to the surface of the motor’s rotor. The magnets are used to generate a constant motor flux instead of requiring the stator field to generate one by linking to the rotor. The magnets used in these motors are made with rare earth elements such as Neodymium, Terbium, and Dysprosium. Neodymium magnets are the most common type currently used in EV motors, but stable procurement of this has been an issue given the stranglehold on the Neodymium value chain.

Rare earths are mined by digging vast open pits in the ground, which can contaminate the environment and disrupt ecosystems. When poorly regulated, mining can produce wastewater ponds filled with acids, heavy metals and radioactive material that might leak into groundwater.

With the new Nexon EV, Tata Motors has managed a 30 per cent magnet mass reduction in the car’s motor as it cut down on the use of rare earth elements.

Asked if the reduction in the use of rare earths was purely for cost reasons, or whether there were larger strategic motivations involved, Anand Kulkarni, the company’s chief product officer and VP – high voltage programmes, TPEM, said, “Sustainability is a key pillar of the EV business so wherever possible the team will look for such enhancements”.

Unlike the first generation Nexon EV, which came about as an evolution of the car originally conceptualised and designed as an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, the second generation has seen the shift to an EV-first thinking, highlighting the direction Tata Motors wants to steer its portfolio towards.

“There was a joint thinking of what is the need from the EV side and the natural evolution of the ICE car. The ICE car got a lot of the benefits from the EV thinking, there was a carry forward… the primary thinking is here (on the EV side)… it requires even more optimisation of costs, so it also benefits developments on the ICE side,” Chandra said.

The change will also spillover into EV-specific showrooms that Tata Motors wants to launch. “Progressively, as in certain cities, there is a critical volume threshold where it makes a viable case for exclusive showrooms, in the coming quarter you will start seeing that,” Chandra said.

However, he pointed out that while the ecosystem around charging infrastructure in the country is getting better, it remains to be a cause of concern for buyers, potentially dissuading them from purchasing EVs.

“Charging infrastructure is still a very big issue, because many people would still not venture out even with a 320-34- kilometre range… although there is decent infrastructure now – about 6,000 public chargers,” Chandra said.

“So, in major routes, we attack the key highways, you will not get stranded. Maybe you will have to wait slightly more because EVs have sold more than the pace at which the charging infrastructure has come, but you will not get into a situation where you have no options,” he added.

On its part, Tata Motors is trying to make their EVs as lucrative as possible, by offering a wide warranty scheme on the battery pack, which they believe could outlive the car itself.

“There is a warranty of eight years on the battery pack… the LFP batteries we use have a life of nearly 3,000 cycles, of charge and discharge. It will outlive the car. But at times, certain cells or modules can go bad and you should replace that, but at least for eight years you do not have to think of anything,” Chandra said.

Owing to the changing dynamics of the changing face of a typical car buyer in India, the Nexon EV has been launched in two variants – medium and long range – with three trim options. “Today 65 per cent of the buyers are less than 35 years old,” Chandra said.