The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods.
That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells...
[An unexpected/unintended consequence of legislating demand. Who could have guessed.]
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Thursday, September 3, 2009
As hybrids gobble rare metals, shortage looms
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