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Bentley OCTOPUS e-Axle Should End Rare Earth Dependence for EVs

Until about a decade ago, few of us knew what rare earths were. To our surprise, we were to learn that the moniker does not describe some far-off, habitable planets similar to our own, but precious elements that can help create incredible technologies. Sort of.
Bentley OCTOPUS e-axle 3 photos
Photo: Bentley
Bentley OCTOPUS e-axleBentley OCTOPUS e-axle
The revelation came about as electric vehicles began becoming commonplace. Things like cobalt and lithium quickly became part of our daily vocabulary, as they are among the ones used by the auto industry to make batteries and other hardware needed for EVs to work.

As a side note, lithium and cobalt are somehow mistakenly referred to as rare earths. Only 17 such elements exist, ranging from cerium to uranium, and nowhere in between are the two listed. They are, in fact, just metals that are not that common. That's right, rare.

Still, this doesn’t stop an entire industry from creating strategies to get access to them. Being rare, and essential, also makes them very important for carmakers. But what if they were to be taken out of the equation entirely?

That’s the goal of the Octopus project announced this week by Bentley, together with nine other UK-based partners. Simply put, the carmaker embarks on a three-year long study aimed at delivering a ”breakthrough in e-axle electric powertrains” and “remove the need for rare-earth magnets.”

OCTOPUS is the easy-to-remember form for Optimised Components, Test and simulatiOn, toolkits for Powertrains which integrate Ultra high-speed motor Solutions. That’s the official name of the project, which seeks out to create this revolutionary new e-axle hardware.

No actual specifics were provided yet, but Bentley and its partners revealed the hardware will comprise power electronics, the transmission, and rare earth-free magnets for the twin high-speed motors, Also, they say the new three-year plan is based on encouraging results that came at the end of “an initial 18-month investigation that delivered a technological breakthrough in electric drive systems for high-performance vehicles.“
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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