The advancement of electric cars in the short-term could be affected by supply disruptions.

That’s the verdict of a new report from the US Department of Energy entitled 2011 Critical Materials Strategy, which looks at supply challenges for five rare earth metals – dysprosium, neodymium, europium, terbium and yttrium. These metals are used in magnets for wind turbines and electric vehicles or phosphors in energy efficient lighting. Meanwhile, other elements, including indium, lanthanum, cerium and tellurium, were found to be near critical.

According to the report, demand for almost all of the materials has grown more rapidly than demand for commodity metals such as steel – this has come from consumer products including mobile phones, computers and flat panel televisions, as well as clean energy technologies.

However, the report concludes that manufacturers of wind power and electric vehicle technologies are already looking into strategies to respond to potential shortages. It states that manufacturers are currently making decisions on future system designs, trading off performance benefits of elements such as neodymium and dysprosium against potential supply shortages.

As an example, wind turbine manufacturers are looking at gear-driven, hybrid and direct drive systems with varying levels of rare earth metal content while some electric vehicle manufacturers are pursuing rare earth free induction motors or using switched reluctance motors as an alternative to PM motors.

By: Paul Lucas
Source: http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/12/27/electric-cars-to-be-hit-by-supply-disruptions/