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View all search resultsRare-earth-free electric motors and the widening technological divide
As global automakers race to engineer rare-earth-free electric vehicles, resource-rich nations like Indonesia risk becoming trapped on the wrong side of a widening technological divide.
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An electric car by Chinese automaker BYD (left) stands in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sept. 19, 2025, as a Toyota SUV passes by in the opposing lane during rush hour in Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/Iqro Rinaldi)
T
he global transition to electric vehicles is frequently portrayed as a linear progression toward decarbonization, technological sophistication and industrial modernization. Yet beneath this seamless narrative lays a far more complex structural transformation shaped by geopolitics, extreme supply chain concentration and technological asymmetry.
Among the most critical yet underexamined choke points in this transition is the electric motor itself, specifically its deep reliance on rare earths (RE).
According to the International Energy Agency, permanent magnets account for approximately 95 percent of total rare earths demand by value, underscoring their absolute centrality to modern electrification. Concurrently, nearly 95 percent of new EV motors still rely on these magnets. This profound structural dependence is now being aggressively challenged by geopolitical and economic realities.
China currently controls roughly 60 percent of global rare earth extraction, 87 percent of processing capacity and over 90 percent of permanent magnet production. Consequently, even minor shifts in Chinese trade or industrial policy reverberate instantly across global manufacturing networks.
In response to this vulnerability, the development of rare-earth-free motor technologies has emerged as a critical frontier in industrial innovation. Academic and engineering literature increasingly highlights alternative architectures, including induction motors, switched reluctance motors and electrically excited synchronous motors (EESMs), as viable pathways to bypass the rare earth bottleneck.
From a strategic perspective, global automakers have adopted vastly different approaches, dictated by their geographic and economic contexts.
Manufacturers like BMW have taken a decisive step toward full rare earth independence by deploying EESMs in its latest EV platforms. This choice yields a drivetrain architecture that is resilient to supply chain disruptions and closely aligned with the European Union’s broader policy agenda of strategic autonomy.
