Tesla takes an Aggressive Step to further Secure the Environment

The global electric car giant Tesla has gone one step further to safeguard the environment. Not only is the company leading the way in manufacturing electric cars to combat climate change but has also vowed to eliminate the usage of rare earth elements in its future electric vehicle production.

The mining of rare earth elements for electric cars could still harm the environment. Out of the 118 elements in the periodic table, only 17 are rare earth elements. Though these elements are not scarce in nature yet it is hard to mine them as they are widely scattered in the environment. Moreover, about 60%-80% of rare earth mining is done in China. This process is highly toxic and pollutes the environment. Hence, Tesla’s move has a lot of environmental as well as political significance. Other than electric vehicles, rare earth elements are largely used for making permanent magnets.

The electric car giant has been gradually reducing its rare earth elements usage in EV powertrains and has already achieved a 25% reduction since 2015. the company has now designed its next drive unit, which uses a permanent magnet motor sans rare earth materials. Other car companies like Nissan and BMW have totally eliminated the usage of rare earth materials and Toyota as well as Volkswagen have also lowered the usage of rare earth elements. These large car companies completely doing away with rare earth elements will have a huge impact on the overall global demand for these elements.

Also, read 7 Ways You Can Fight Against Climate Change.

It is nice to see larger companies coming forward and taking sustainable steps to secure the future and save the environment. These companies are looking for ways to reduce the usage of such rare earth elements and also helping with environmentally-friendlier ways to mine the same.