How much neodymium is used in cars?

[Looneybomber]

So, many of the electric motors for seats and windows use neo, but is there anything else? The reason I ask is the prices have tripled over the past couple of months because of China. This is huge in the home theater and pro audio world where some of the speaker drivers I've been looking at have doubled in price.
http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/neodymium/

[AppleBonker]

Gotta love China hoarding the rare earth metals. Makes a lot of stuff more expensive. I'm glad I bought my subwoofer when I did. Anyway, I don't have any other info, but I am interested in any knowledge that others may have on this subject.

[Looneybomber]

Yeah I guess it's China's way of slowing their inflation? Either way, screw them.
On a side note, ferrite/iron and ceramic based speaker drivers are not jumping up in price.

[AppleBonker]

I was under the impression that they're doing it to spark business growth in China. They've cut back on how much they'll export, but the rare earth metals are still readily available in China. I believe there are a number of large companies that are planning on opening production facilities in China so they can get the materials for cheap and keep their costs down. Seems a little bogus to me. I understand why China is doing it, but it kinda hurts the rest of the world.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

On a related note Tesla and AC Propulsion(And by extension Toyota) should see a huge increase in their profitability in relation to other electric motor manufacturers because they don't use any rare earths in their motors. Other companies, like Mitsubishi, are using solid state motors which require a crapload of specific(And rare) metals.

[themadscientist]

Molycorp
Ucore

You're welcome.

[PalmerWMD]

There is obviously some amount or rare earth in the electronic compnents of cars.
but not nearly as much in a normal car as in a hybrid.
China has been dominant in this market ,not so much because of great deposits (tho there is some of that) but mostly because thier mines can run very cheap due to less regulation than here.
Canada and US have decent deposits but with almost no mining activity left.
australia is opning up a couple large mines but it will take years until they are fully onstream.

[Looneybomber]

Palmer: I was hearing rumors that it would take about a decade to get the mines in the US and other countries up to previous global production levels. So for a while now, neo, along with other metals China isn't sharing, will stay priced higher than they should.

[PalmerWMD]

Looney: There is a lot of truth in that. but we wont need to replace all the rare earths at 100%

[Looneybomber]

Yeah that's very true.
Thinking about home and pro audio, I just get upset knowing that many compression drivers and woofers were getting produced with neo based motor structures and now the prices are so high they're forced to redesign drivers based on late 90's/early 00's technology when iron and ceramic reigned supreme.
For example, 12" woofers were getting down to around 8lbs. Combined with a light weight fiberglass enclosure, a person could get an enclosure and 12" woofer and weigh only 15lbs. That's light enough to not worry about removing it for autox.

[float_6969]

D: You can get on the interwebs now?

[Looneybomber]

D: You can get on the interwebs now?

Oh yeah'z. At basic I was locked away from the outside world, but at tech school I can get on the interwebz. BTW, my plane arrives in KC friday at 7pm, and then I have to report to Wichita at 0730 on Monday, so my weekend will be short. I will be there till the end of July and then school starts (at KU) in the middle of August, so my summer will be real short. During that time I've got to get a lot done, so I'll be pretty busy, but give me a shout! Hey, I've been thinking of running a marathon sometime around my 30th bday assuming I can keep the tendinitis out of my achilles. I have my 10k time down to the high 40's, and I know u used to run cross country, so you have the musculature for it. You dig?

[float_6969]

The wife is out of town this weekend actually, so if you've got any time at all, I'd love to see you and the fam. As for the Marathon, I think I could prob get back into running condition in 2 months, so I'm down. If I don't hear from you, I'll call on Saturday night/Sunday.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Yeah that's very true.
Thinking about home and pro audio, I just get upset knowing that many compression drivers and woofers were getting produced with neo based motor structures and now the prices are so high they're forced to redesign drivers based on late 90's/early 00's technology when iron and ceramic reigned supreme.
For example, 12" woofers were getting down to around 8lbs. Combined with a light weight fiberglass enclosure, a person could get an enclosure and 12" woofer and weigh only 15lbs. That's light enough to not worry about removing it for autox.

This is what car companies are contemplating >.>

[gwoods]

I had a customer last year who was buying container loads of rare earth from China and shipping to Japan. Then China decided they were mad a Japan and would not sell them anymore rare earth. SOOOO I brought the containers to Long Beach and then shipped them to Japan from Long Beach.

In short its my fault that the home and pro audio prices went up.

[breadbox]

In short its my fault that the home and pro audio prices went up.

lol, you bastard.

[Looneybomber]

The wife is out of town this weekend actually, so if you've got any time at all, I'd love to see you and the fam. As for the Marathon, I think I could prob get back into running condition in 2 months, so I'm down. If I don't hear from you, I'll call on Saturday night/Sunday.

So much for getting the early flight. Bad weather caused me to stay the night at the airport. I then spent Sat. with my sister and her family (her bday) and Sunday spent moving.

In short its my fault that the home and pro audio prices went up.

[carloslebaron]

There is obviously some amount or rare earth in the electronic compnents of cars.
but not nearly as much in a normal car as in a hybrid.
China has been dominant in this market ,not so much because of great deposits (tho there is some of that) but mostly because thier mines can run very cheap due to less regulation than here.
Canada and US have decent deposits but with almost no mining activity left.
australia is opning up a couple large mines but it will take years until they are fully onstream.

That is a very good point: Regulations.

As far as I can remember listening my uncle the firefighter, US companies used to flee from this land looking for countries without regulations in order to install on them their manufacturing, like pesticides as an example.

Not long ago, I watched a documentary about China, and while there are "brand new" cities with lots of splendor, but just a few miles away their rivers are brown full of contaminants and as a consequence people is dying of cancer between other diseases. The pollution is an increasing problem in China, but apparently they want to take the risk in order to have a faster progress.