Schaeffler recovers and reuses rare-earth magnets from defective EV motor rotors

The useful part

Seven people in Szombathely and two in Germany worked on the project, which Schaeffler calls "Pioneering Sustainability." The magnets are pressed out of the defective parts, then cleaned and vacuum packed. In transfer molding, magnets are set into slots in a rotor's laminated core and locked in place with injected resin, so they cannot simply be lifted out of a rejected part. Schaeffler says the process can also be moved to other permanent-magnet e-motor production sites that use transfer molding.

How it works

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• How a motor's operating speed, torque and control strategy affect its efficiency A closer look at why heat pumps are dominating EV HVAC systems A closer look at brushed AC motors in EVs A closer look at...
• The technology developed at Szombathely allows the magnets to be recovered and reused safely, the company says.
• Schaeffler describes the magnets as extremely expensive and says managing high-value raw materials in production is one of the industry's most pressing challenges.
• The process requires minimal investment and produces significant cost savings, according to the company, which also credits it with reducing scrap and transport-related CO₂ emissions compared with other...

What to take from it

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Details worth keeping

They go into new rotors under strict testing, according to the company. The announcement includes no figures for any of them.

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