The materials in question include minerals like neodymium (used for the magnets in the electric motors), terbium, dysprosium or lanthanum. For instance, one Prius electric motor needs 1 kg (2.2 lb) of neodymium, while the battery uses 10 to 15 kg (22-33 lb) of lanthanum, Autonews reported. Of course, this is not the problem.
Most of the world's reserves of rare earths can be found in China; this is not the problem, either. The problem is that, according to Alistair Stephens, from Australia’s rare metals group Arafura, China has decided to put a stop to exports of rare earths.
Stephens told telegraph.co.uk that his Chinese sources had a look at what is called "Rare Earths Industry Development Plan 2009-2015", a Chinese guide-book calling for the ban of exports for terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium and the restriction of exports for neodymium, europium, cerium, and lanthanum.
It is unclear, so far, is such a plan exists, but the rumor itself was enough to send those involved hunting for solutions. Several alternative sources have already been found: one in the US, getting ready to be tapped starting 2012 and one in Canada, at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories. According to Reuters, the latter has caught the eye of Japanese manufacturers, so far the biggest consumers of rare earths.
Toyota reportedly even has a plan to secure the raw materials necessary for the biggest rare earths consumer on the planet: the Prius. Its plan is called, according to telegraph.co.uk, “Strategy for Ensuring Stable Supplies of Rare Metals” and calls for both making reserves of necessary materials, as well as for "securing overseas resources".
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