According to
AEM — a developer and manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) and aero drive systems — the UK automotive industry is ‘sleepwalking into its next major supply chain crisis’, so is urging manufacturers and policymakers ‘to act now to eliminate the sector’s reliance on rare-earth materials before it compromises the EV transition’.
In a new white paper, AEM warns that the widespread use of rare-earth permanent magnet motors in EVs has created a single point of failure comparable to the semiconductor shortage that crippled global car production during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Unlike semiconductors, however, this vulnerability is structural, worsening, and already being exploited. Recent export licensing restrictions on rare-earth elements have forced production shutdowns across Europe and beyond, with manufacturers warning that further disruption is imminent. With one country controlling the vast majority of rare-earth processing capacity, the report argues that the UK’s decarbonisation targets, automotive competitiveness, and economic security are all now exposed to geopolitical, environmental and cyber risks beyond domestic control.”
The white paper also emphasises that most EVs rely on up to 1kg of rare earths within their motors, materials that are environmentally destructive to extract and increasingly subject to export controls. With the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate requiring 80% of new car sales to be zero-emission by 2030, AEM argues that current supply trajectories simply cannot support the required growth in EV production.
Crucially, AEM’s report challenges the assumption that rare earths are unavoidable, and sets out how proven, commercially deployed alternatives already exist. “AEM’s rare-earth-free motor technology has accumulated more than 4 million km in real-world operation across buses and light rail, delivering comparable performance, lower costs, and significantly reduced environmental impact.
“Moreover, lifecycle analysis cited in the report shows that magnet-free motors can cut environmental impact by more than half compared to conventional permanent magnet designs, while also removing exposure to volatile rare-earth pricing and geopolitically concentrated supply chains.”
The white paper can be viewed at the website
here.