Rare-Earth Free permanent Magnets for automotive applications

Electric vehicles contain between 1 and 2 kg of permanent magnets (PM).
They are exploited in the traction motor and in many sensors, motors,
and actuators aimed at increasing energy efficiency and safety. The best
performing PM (i.e. NdFeB) are based on Rare Earths (RE) that are the
most critical class of raw materials for their supply risk and for the
environmental impact of their extraction/processing. NdFeB growth
forecasts, combined with the geographic concentration of reserves and
resources, will dramatically increase the likelihood and impact of supply
shortages.
The ambitious goal of FreeMag is to develop a new class of RE-free
magnets with intermediate performances between ferrites and NdFeB,
that could substitute NdFeB in many automotive applications. The
proposed RE-free compositions (FeCo)2(PSi) have been successfully
developed CNR. FreeMag will realize prototypes of RE-free bonded PM
in large scale and industrial environment and will test them following
automotive protocols.