Very precious metals… Bloomberg

Elizabeth Behrmann, Bloomberg, has a nice piece on rare earth metals used in electric vehicles, here…

”Rare earths are emerging as another source of concern in the transformation to electric cars. They’ll require vast amounts of battery raw materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt, which is leading automakers like BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and Tesla Inc. to go directly to miners. China, which controls two-thirds of mining and 85% of refining of rare earths, according to BloombergNEF, is expected to put much of its production to use domestically in future.”

“While carmakers including BMW and General Motors Co. have sought to reduce the amount of rare earths — a vehicle uses an average of 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) — switching to alternatives tends to make motors less efficient. Tesla initially used induction motors that didn’t need magnets to power its electric cars, but switched gears with the Model 3.”