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Author Topic: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms  (Read 1686 times)

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Offline thundley4

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As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« on: August 31, 2009, 12:33:51 PM »
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods.
That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.1
Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tonnes annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed. One promising U.S. source is a rare earths mine slated to reopen in California by 2012.2
Among the rare earths that would be most affected in a shortage is neodymium, the key component of an alloy used to make the high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus, as well as in generators for wind turbines.
Reuters via Yahoo

1.  Does anyone think that the US being beholden to China even more is better than depending on the Arabs for oil?
2. Good luck with getting the EPA to allow that mine to reopen, or the environmentalist for that matter.

I see nothing but bad things happening to the US economy under Lord Zero.
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2009, 01:13:41 PM »
Save your clunkers boys, the South shall ride again....uh...or somthing like that.

I saw that....wonder when you factor in all the oil for mining, electricity for smelting, manufacturing, etc....how much oil we DIDN'T save.
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Offline NHSparky

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2009, 01:21:19 PM »
If this is the mine in California I'm thinking of, it's a cerium mine.  My dad worked on a project there about 9-10 years ago.  Fascinating (and dangerous) stuff.
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Offline docstew

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2009, 02:50:03 PM »
Quote from: JohnnyReb on August 31, 2009, 01:13:41 PM
Save your clunkers boys, the South shall ride again....uh...or somthing like that.

I saw that....wonder when you factor in all the oil for mining, electricity for smelting, manufacturing, etc....how much oil we DIDN'T save.

I saw a news article listing the entire carbon footprint for a Prius going from raw materials to 100k miles... the conclusion was the planet was better off if everyone drove Hummer H1's.
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Offline AllosaursRus

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2009, 04:27:19 PM »
Quote from: docstew on August 31, 2009, 02:50:03 PM
I saw a news article listing the entire carbon footprint for a Prius going from raw materials to 100k miles... the conclusion was the planet was better off if everyone drove Hummer H1's.

Thje Greenies never take this into consideration at all! They think "I Dream of Jeanie" is real!
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Offline RightCoast

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2009, 06:19:50 PM »
Quote from: docstew on August 31, 2009, 02:50:03 PM
I saw a news article listing the entire carbon footprint for a Prius going from raw materials to 100k miles... the conclusion was the planet was better off if everyone drove Hummer H1's.

I saw that - don't remember where.
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Offline jinxmchue

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Re: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2009, 12:35:19 PM »
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