‘Eco-friendly’ hybrid cars push rare metals toward extinction

Hybrid cars may be marketed as eco-friendly — and when it comes to fuel efficiency, that’s largely true.

But when it comes to sustainability, hybrids are another story.

Parts of the electric motor and batteries in vehicles such as the popular Toyota Prius contain rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in many consumer electronics.

Worldwide demand for rare earths is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tons annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed, according to a Reuters report.

That makes gasoline-electric hybrid cars such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus vulnerable to a predicted supply crunch as China, the world’s dominant rare earths producer, limits exports as global demand swells.

Of the 15 rare earths on the periodic table of elements, neodymium — a key component of an alloy used in high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors and generators for wind turbines — is most at risk.

Another rare earth metal, lanthanum, is a major ingredient in hybrid car batteries.

As the green movement swells, production of hybrid cars and wind turbines is expected to increase sharply.

Our dependence on fossil fuels may become a dependence on individual elements.

For hybrid cars, the problem is that they use considerable amounts of these rare metals.