Start-up of the LowReeMotors project
Start-up of the LowReeMotors project
Start-up of the LowReeMotors project
The automotive sector european project led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea looks for solutions to ensure autochthonous production
LowReeMotors, Rare earth reduction in high-performance permanent magnet electric machines is a European project led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and MONDRAGON Corporation, featuring CEA, VALEO, Magneti Ljubljana, Montan University Leoben and KU Leuven as partners. The first meeting held on 6 February on the Arrasate campus launched a project whose main goal is to look for alternatives to the neodymium magnets currently used in electric vehicle engines. Neodymium is considered a critical material for Europe mainly for two reasons: the raw material is almost entirely found in China, and it is estimated that demand will exceed production in a short span of time.
In this context, the implementation of alternatives in the composition of the magnet, such as alloys containing cerium (Ce), could alleviate the need for raw materials of Nd by up to 6-10%. It is known, however, that Ce-based magnets have less performance than Nd magnets, which makes it necessary to redesign the electric machine to optimise the implementation of these new magnets and to ensure that the resulting machine is competitive with current technologies.
The LowReeMotors project will design, manufacture and test two different electric machines that will replace existing equivalent Nd-based motors.
The inconvenience of rare-earth elements
Neodymium magnet production takes place outside Europe, especially in China. Rare-earth composite magnets are divided into two types: light rare earth (LRE) and heavy rare earth (HRE). Global rare-earth reserves comprise approximately 85% LRE and 15% HRE, the latter being used for application in the automobile industry. The main disadvantage of including these scarce materials is that they increase manufacturing costs, as well as transport costs.
Therefore, LowReeMotors seeks to solve this problem, and for this purpose, it has funding from the European Union, framed in the EIT Raw Materials consortium of which the MONDRAGON Corporation is a partner. The main mission of EIT RawMaterials is precisely to allow the sustainable competitiveness of the European minerals, metals and materials sector along the value chain, driving innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.
LOWREEMOTORS, Rare earth reduction in high-performance permanent magnet electric machines project has been funded by the EIT Raw Materials, within the financial aid call KIC – Raw Materials in 2019.
