General Motors deals to source rare earth materials for electric vehicles

Auto giant General Motors is one of the many other auto giants who is planning to roll out battery-electric vehicles in the upcoming decade. For this purpose, the company is trying to source some of the important raw material and components from other foreign sources other than the regular Chinese sources. An announcement was made by GM that mentioned that it will be purchasing rare earth materials from the only remaining commercial mine in the United States.

Two new plants will be supplying with high-power magnets which are needed for the electric vehicle motors. At present the raw material, magnets and other supplies are being sourced from China. Shilpan Amin, the vice president of global product development, purchase and supply chain at GM said that their intention is to have a fully capable supply chain for the entire value chain with the help of the North American supply chain that will be supporting their EV production. The fresh collaboration will be marked between GM and MP Materials which is a company that is based in California. The company provides raw material and processed minerals and is all set to set up a new factory in Fort Worth, Texas that will be producing ample magnets enough for 500,000 electric vehicles on an annual basis.

GM also announced that it will be finalizing an agreement with Vacuumschmelz of Germany also known as VAC for supply of rare earth minerals and finished magnets. VAC is also ready to set up a factory in the United States for GM and the actual location is expected to be announced in 2022. Shilpan Amin while talking about the two deals said that they are expected to create hundreds of jobs and will also be providing enough magnets for the motors.

The new move will help to solve the supply chain issues that are causing a lot of disruption in manufacturing and supply.

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