NdFeB content in ancillary motors of U.S. conventional passenger cars and light trucks: Results from the field

Research into secondary recovery of rare earth elements (REE) has focused mostly on hard disk drives and automotive applications. While REE content in Japanese and European vehicles is relatively well-known, understanding of U.S. vehicles is mostly based on database analysis. An attempt to pinpoint which components contain the most REEs was conducted on four different vehicle models including the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord. The disassembly data were combined with 2017 vehicles in operation to estimate stocks and flows of Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB). Results showed that U.S. vehicles had major differences compared to Japanese and European vehicles. NdFeB magnets were only found in speakers ranging from 16 to 114 g/vehicle. An estimated 3.0–14 tonnes of NdFeB could be available from end-of-life vehicles in 2018 from different cohorts of the four aforementioned models. While opportunities for recycling NdFeB in vehicles exist, challenges are also present.