Rare Earths, China, and Musk's Misdirection Tesla's latest announcement has sparked a flurry of headlines: Elon Musk claims that the company's new Cybercab motor is free from rare earths.
However, what does this really mean for China – or for Tesla itself? The Shanghai based International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association remains skeptical about the significance of this development.
According to David Zhang, general secretary of the association, the concept of rare earth free motors is still far from being a game changer.