It is like a war at various fronts: Toyota is developing motors without using rare earth magnets. At the same time it is also searching for rare earth mines outside China.
In addition to Toyota, smaller companies are working on related technologies, such as developing magnets for more efficient hydrid motors.
Electron Energy Corporation is the last remaining US producer of sintered rare earth magnets, according to an article on the Energy Department’s website. The US Department of Energy gave a $750,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) to the family-owned business in September 2008 to support it, the article said.
Peter Dent, a vice president of the company, said more than 6,000 Americans worked in the permanent magnet industry in the 1990s, but foreign competition took most of these job overseas, especially in China, according to the report.
The grant is part of American government’s effort to support its competition in the global market and increase manufacturing jobs.
The company has been trying to develop a process that “allows manufacturers to maximize the electrical resistivity of Neodymium Iron Boron and Samarium Cobalt sintered rare earth magnets without reducing their magnetic strength,” the report said. The market of sintered rare earth magnets is estimated at $4 billion worldwide, according to the report.
Here is the link of the Energy Department report: http://blog.energy.gov/blog/2010/08/06/grant-helps-make-us-rare-earth-magnets-more-common
And the company’s website is here:
http://www.electronenergy.com/
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