EV news, page-15

"If this works as they say, bye-bye to NdPr in the EV motors and wind turbines:"

I had a look at the link. Basically, the claim is that they have come up with a better physical configuration for an electric motor that is more suited to the variable speed and power requirements of an electric vehicle. They are also claiming a control method that involves partially cancelling the effect of the permanent magnets by physically adjusting the positions of the magnets relative to one another. The further claim, which is made in the text on the web page, is that the improvements arising from the new configuration are such that it can achieve equivalent performance to other rare earth motors even when the new motor is fitted with old style ferrite magnets.

That's as may be, but even if the claims for the benefits of the new configuration are correct, the fact remains that it would be better still if it used rare earth magnets instead of ferrite magnets. The new motor could be made lighter and smaller still if it used rare earth magnets. So if the claims for the new configuration are valid it might allow comparable results to be obtained with ferrite magnets, but if that is the case, it would work better still with rare earth magnets. Thus, even if the claims for their new topology are true, it isn't likely to significantly dent the demand for rare earth magnets.

The fact remains that you can achieve a given field strength with a smaller and lighter rare earth magnet than is the case with a ferrite magnet.

Now if they had found a way to make a ferrite magnet as strong as a rare earth magnet, then that really would be a game changer, but that is not what this is about.

Also, electric motors have been around a long time, so there is little that has not been tried or thought of before. I am therefore a tad skeptical of the magnitude of the improvements claimed for their new topology. There are physical constraints and circumventing those always tends to come at a cost in some other direction.

With respect to wind turbines, the claimed benefits may be even less relevant in that application.
(I note that the link makes no claim for their applicability in wind turbines)
The generators in wind turbines are effectively stationary, so weight and size is of less consequence than in vehicle applications.

Cheers