Nissan Motor Company announced a US$250M investment in the company's US powertrain plant in Decherd, Tennessee, to support the electrification of its US fleet.

The announcement follows last year’s plan by the company to invest US$500M to transform its plant in Canton, Mississippi into an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and technology centre and introduce two new EVs into the US market by 2025. The company stated that its electrification plans are accelerating faster than previously forecast and expansions in its supply chain will be needed to meet EV growth.

EV makers are at the centre of critical material supply chains, where drivetrain technologies are putting pressure on new supply chains to develop at pace, all the way upstream to the mines. Most of the attention still sits on the battery supply chain, however, the motor supply chain includes rare earths, which according to Project Blue’s 2022 Critical Materials Risk Index are among the energy transition materials most at risk.

Both light rare earths NdPr and heavy rare earths DyTb are needed to produce the permanent magnet that underpins high-performance e-motors. This supply chain is still fully reliant on Chinese magnet producers, accounting for over 95% of global magnet output, and according to Project Blue’s data around 50% of heavy rare earths raw materials at present are sourced from Myanmar.

For the time being, rare earth magnet e-motors are the technology of choice, allowing EV makers to reduce the volume (cost) of batteries needed to reach the required driving ranges. The question remains if upstream integration by the EV majors into magnets will follow suit.