there are many industries that require rare earths and those are here to stay and grow over time. no doubt. but it was the demand from EVs that drove prices so high as this was new demand that was expected to grow rapidly as EV space is not matured.
If Tesla nailed it (big IF) then all will follow. The economics will drive the change. Tesla claimed savings of around $5k - from what I read few weeks ago. No EV maker will allow to have high production costs and be driven out of business. They all will make their own designs that do away with REs.
One may think $5k is not much but $5k is around 7% of the total price of many EVs. As designs and manufacturing processes improve $5k will be over 10% for many EV models. Now imagine if your competitor can sell their cars at 10% discount while commanding same margins as you. But for you to keep those margins you must hold your price 10% higher. On models that perform about same. You are basically being driven out of business.
again, if Tesla really nailed it. but you could be right and they only use funny tactics to negotiate better prices and their rare-earths-free design is a pipe dream.
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