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there are almost certainly rare earth metals in the speakers, for example, although the mass would be relatively cheap compared to what you would need for a motor.

Does the tesla have regenerative braking system, and I wonder if there are rare earth metals there?



They have a 17" display in the dashboard. That certainly has some rare earths in it combined with all the latest electronics.

Here is an article: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/rare-earth-element...


Good point. Almost every capacitive touchscreen uses a vapor-deposited coating of indium tin oxide (ITO) as a transparent conductor.

Granted, it's a microscopic amount of indium, but still.


Indium isn't a rare earth element, is it?


Technically, its a (rare) precious metal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_metal


Which is a completely different thing than a rare earth metal. (Which incidentally are not rare or precious.)

To be fair, the group is badly named, but rare earth metals has a very precise meaning -- if something is not one of the lanthanides, Scandium, or Yttrium, it's not REE.


Technically it's not in the set of rare earth metals, though it is rare (at least in naturally occurring and isolated form).


And rare earth metals are not rare. So it's completely different.



More generally, do they have any statement on "conflict-free" sourcing of minerals used in their electrics/electronics?

http://www.enoughproject.org/conflict-minerals


> Does the tesla have regenerative braking system, and I wonder if there are rare earth metals there?

As far as I understand it, they use the motors for regenerative breaking, and the motors don't contain permanent magnets. Where permanent magnets would be used, they use more coils, and thus can vary the strength of the magnetic fields, much like your car's alternator. This is also how they forgo the need for a gear box.




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