A turning point is coming in the world of electric cars that will allow prices to be significantly lowered in the future: a sensational discovery
Own from Europe here comes news that can completely change the rules of the game in terms of construction and sale of battery-powered vehicles. What has always been a problem up to now, namely the cost of the realization of EVcan now become a strength.
What has held back the massive spread of electric cars up until now? Europe (especially in Italy)? There are certainly essentially two topics to be covered in this discussion: costs and top-ups. Autonomy represents a big bugaboo, as does the diffusion of charging stations, although the presence on urban and extra-urban arteries has greatly increased. Likewise, motorists think twice before investing a considerable sum in purchasing one EV. On the other hand, despite discounts, concessions and incentives, we are still well above the thermal equivalent.
Battery-powered cars are expensive for the materials used to make the engines. You have surely heard of rare earths, but what specifically are they and why are they so valuable?
Rare earths, that is REEs, short for Rare Earth Metals, are a group of 17 elements belonging to the metal family. These are further divided based on atomic weight into: Light Rare Earths (LREE), Medium Rare Earths (MREE) and Heavy Rare Earths (HREE). Going into the specifics of the chemical elements we have: Scandium, Yttrium and the 15 lanthanoids, namely, Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium.
Electric cars, breakthrough in European production thanks to rare earths: the discovery in Norway
The race for rare earths has become increasingly important at an international level, given that they are the basis of the construction of batteries, both for electric vehicles and for example for smartphones. Now the big turning point for Europe comes from discovery in Norway of a volcano that contains within it a huge deposit of these metals. Great news that can create an important boost for the entire Old Continent.
Rare Earths Norway (REN), spread the news of the discovery in the complex of Fen carbonatite, located in Telemark county, southwest of Oslo. There would be as much as 8.8 megatonnes of rare earth oxides in the areaof which 1.5 could be used for the production of magnets, essential for electric cars.
The REN excavations they will continue in the coming months and the construction of a pilot plant to begin extractions is planned. The volcano’s reserves should extend up to a depth of 468 meters below sea level. A huge deposit that could represent a fundamental step forward for electricity production in Europe.
