Honda's new e-motor slashes expensive rare-earth content

Honda Motor Co. and Daido Steel Ltd. recently scored a strategic win when they announced the first production application of a new magnet material for electrified vehicle motors.

The material-hot deformed neodymium-is being used first in a new permanent-magnet traction motor powering Honda's 2017 Freed Sport Hybrid compact minivan. Significantly, the material is not a “heavy” rare-earth metal, one that requires “doping” with dysprosium or terium rare earths to achieve high heat-resistance characteristics. Yet it has the high magnetic and thermal performance necessary for use in EV and hybrid vehicle e-motors, according to the companies.