Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
The rare earth metals is an issue. Unfortuantely there isn't much we can do about it.
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Actually, rare earths are not an issue because
they are not needed.
The Tesla Roadster does not have
any rare earths in the motor or battery pack. It uses an three phase, four pole AC induction motor (invented by Nikola Tesla). The fields from the stationary windings induce currents in the moving windings, which generates their field. So there are
no permanent magnets in the assembly whatsoever.
As an added bonus, induction motors can run much hotter without any risk of demagnetization. Rare earth magnets tend to have a relatively low Curie temperature, and if you exceed it they demagnetize and the motor is toast.