Tesla's new motor does away with rare earths

Tesla removes rare earth metals from its motor without sacrificing performance

Elon Musk's company has announced a new electric motor that does away with rare earths, a strategic material whose supply chain is dominated by China. According to the information released, the motor not only matches the performance of permanent magnets, but is also manufactured at a rate of one unit every ten seconds. The promise is ambitious: cutting dependence on Beijing without penalizing weight, size or performance. But, as is often the case with Tesla announcements, it is worth separating the wheat from the chaff.

The motor without permanent magnets

The technical solution involves abandoning the traditional winding and the use of neodymium magnets, replacing them with an externally excited rotor. It is not entirely new: manufacturers such as BMW, Renault and Nissan already use wound-rotor synchronous or asynchronous motors in their electric vehicles. The difference, according to Tesla, is that its design matches the power density of a permanent magnet motor without increasing weight or volume. That, combined with a simplified production architecture, would allow each motor to be built in ten seconds. A figure that, if achieved, would represent a qualitative leap in automation.

The dry battery, the other front

The announcement comes after Tesla unveiled its "dry" battery production process, which eliminates the use of solvents and the subsequent drying of the cathode. The company claims to be the first to achieve this at industrial scale, which lowers costs and speeds up manufacturing. However, some point out that BYD is already working on similar technologies and that the real bottleneck lies not in the motors, but in lithium mining and cell costs, where China holds an overwhelming advantage.

Skepticism and context

There is no shortage of voices questioning the credibility of Musk's announcements. The company's track record on deadlines and promises is patchy, and some analysts suggest the new motor could be a variant of existing solutions rather than a revolution. Moreover, production costs could be higher than those of Chinese equivalents, which already dominate the market with lower prices. The question is whether Tesla can turn this innovation into a real competitive advantage, or whether it will remain just another headline.

Tesla's push to reduce its dependence on China is strategic, but success will depend on the ability to scale production without costs spiraling. If the ten-second motor works, it could change the rules of the game. If not, it will go down as yet another announcement of a future that never arrives. For now, the only certainty is that the race toward electrification is not slowing down, and every technical advance becomes a geopolitical battleground.