Stunned by frequent shortages of essential materials from China, automakers in the United States and Europe are quietly trying to reduce or eliminate the need for materials that have become entangled in superpower rivalries.

面对中国关键物料频繁短缺的冲击，欧美车企正悄然采取行动，试图减少甚至摆脱对那些卷入大国博弈的物料的依赖。

The companies are exploring technologies and exotic materials that could replace magnets made with rare-earth metals that are used in dozens of parts in cars and trucks of all kinds. They include components like windshield wiper motors and the mechanisms that allow seats to be adjusted.

这些企业正在探索各类新技术与特殊材料，以期替代由稀土金属制成的磁体，这类磁体广泛应用于各类汽车的数十种零部件中，涵盖挡风玻璃雨刷电机、座椅调节机构等等。

Magnets made with the rare-earth elements neodymium, dysprosium and terbium are especially important for the motors that move electric vehicles and hybrids, which are becoming more popular.

由钕、镝、铽等稀土元素制成的磁体对日益普及的电动汽车和混合动力汽车的驱动电机至关重要。

China dominates mining and processing of most rare earths and has used its near monopoly as a diplomatic weapon. This year, it imposed controls on exports of some of those materials in apparent retaliation for President Trump’s stiff tariffs on Chinese goods.

中国在绝大多数稀土的开采与加工领域占据主导地位，并将其近乎垄断的优势当作外交武器。今年，中国对部分稀土材料实施出口管制，此举显然是对特朗普总统对中国商品征收高额关税的报复。

The recent instability in rare-earth supplies is a much bigger threat to automakers than in the past. It has given new urgency to the search for motors that don’t need rare earths or for materials that would replace them.

相较以往，近期稀土供应的不稳定性对车企构成了更大威胁，这也让寻找无稀土电机或稀土替代材料的工作变得愈发紧迫。

BMW’s electric vehicles already use motors that operate without rare earths. Researchers at Northeastern University and other institutions are working to synthesize materials that have promising magnetic properties and are found only in meteorites.

宝马的电动汽车已率先采用不含稀土的驱动电机。东北大学等机构的研究人员正致力于合成具有优异磁性能的材料，这类材料目前只能在陨石中找到。

Start-ups have begun developing new kinds of motors and other technologies. And the Department of Energy is encouraging that work, despite the Trump administration’s rollback of other forms of support for electric vehicles.

初创企业已着手研发新型电机及其他替代技术。尽管特朗普政府削减了对电动汽车领域的其他支持，但美国能源部仍在积极推动这类研发工作。

哈纳夫普里特·吉尔是加州初创企业Conifer的工程师，该公司生产无稀土电机。

Many of these efforts won’t bear fruit for years. And substitute technologies like those used by BMW can be more expensive or have other drawbacks. For the time being, the industry remains extremely vulnerable to shortages that could bring assembly lines to a halt.

不过，多数研发举措要在数年后才能取得成效。类似宝马采用的替代技术可能成本更高或存在其他缺陷。目前来看，汽车行业仍极易受供应短缺影响，一旦稀土断供，汽车生产线可能随时陷入停滞。

“This isn’t a challenge you can overcome in a year,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“这绝非一年内就能攻克的难题，”华盛顿战略与国际研究中心关键矿产安全项目主任格雷塞林·巴斯卡兰表示。

This month, Beijing suspended some of its rare-earth export controls as part of an agreement with the Trump administration. But controls remain a threat as tensions between the United States and China continue.

本月，作为与特朗普政府达成协议的一部分，中国暂停了部分稀土出口管制措施。但随着美中紧张局势持续，出口管制的威胁始终存在。

“There is now sort of a détente,” said Tom Moerenhout, who leads the Critical Materials Initiative at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “But the question is not will there be a next event where rare earths are being weaponized, but rather when.”

“当前局势可说是一种缓和状态，”哥伦比亚大学全球能源政策中心关键材料项目负责人汤姆·莫伦豪特指出。“但问题不在于稀土是否会再次被当作武器使用，而在于下一次发生在何时。”

The auto industry has reckoned with rare-earth shortages before. Beginning in 2010, China choked off supplies, leading to a dispute with the Obama administration.

汽车行业并非首次应对稀土短缺危机。早在2010年，中国就曾切断稀土供应，引发了与奥巴马政府的争端。

The coronavirus pandemic, which caused severe shortages of semiconductors and other components, reinforced the dangers of depending too much on a few suppliers or vendors from one country. As a result, many automakers began looking for alternatives.

新冠疫情导致半导体及其他零部件严重短缺，这一事件进一步凸显了过度依赖少数供应商或单一供应国的巨大风险。正因如此，众多车企开始着手寻找替代方案。

Carmakers can use two strategies to keep their assembly lines running. They can find rare earths outside China, or they can switch to components that don’t require those metals.

车企可采用两种策略维持生产线运转：一是从中国以外的地区获取稀土资源；二是改用不依赖稀土金属的零部件。

General Motors is pursuing the first strategy with MP Materials, an American company that is mining rare earths in California. MP is also building a facility in Texas to refine the materials and use them to make magnets. Under an agreement announced in 2021, G.M. has promised to buy most of the output of the Texas factory for use in Cadillacs and Chevrolets. MP also has agreements with Apple and the Defense Department.

通用汽车选择了第一种策略，与美国MP材料公司展开合作，后者正在加利福尼亚州开采稀土，同时还在得克萨斯州建设一座加工厂，用于稀土提纯及磁体制造。根据2021年公布的协议，通用汽车承诺将采购这座得州工厂的大部分出品，用于凯迪拉克和雪佛兰车型的生产。此外，MP材料公司还与苹果公司及美国国防部签订了合作协议。

Such agreements provide companies like MP guaranteed revenue, something that wasn’t available to rare-earth companies and processors that went bankrupt after previous crises when prices fell so much that they couldn’t compete with Chinese suppliers. MP acquired its site in California from one such bankrupt company.

这类协议为MP材料公司等企业提供了稳定的收入保障。这正是此前稀土危机中破产企业所缺少的，当时价格暴跌导致它们无法与中方供应商竞争。MP材料公司位于加利福尼亚州的稀土矿场，正是从这样一家破产企业手中收购而来。

But there is also a risk to automakers like G.M. They may wind up paying more than other manufacturers if shortages ease and prices fall again.

但对通用汽车这类车企而言，这种合作也存在风险：一旦稀土供应短缺缓解、价格回落，它们最终可能要比其他制造商支付更高的成本。

G.M. is also searching for components that don’t need rare earths. “There’s nothing like not having to use rare-earth things, whether it’s magnets or batteries or whatever,” Mark Reuss, the president of G.M., said at a company event in New York recently. “How do we engineer out that dependency?”

与此同时，通用汽车也在寻找无需稀土的零部件。“如果能完全不用稀土相关产品，无论是磁体、电池还是其他部件，那再好不过了，”通用汽车总裁马克·罗伊斯近期在纽约的一场企业活动中表示。“我们该如何通过技术革新摆脱这种依赖？”

A G.M. spokesman declined to provide specifics.

通用汽车发言人拒绝披露具体的研发细节。

Back in the 1980s, a G.M. unit developed magnets made from neodymium, iron and boron, which are now widely used in electric vehicle motors. But G.M. sold the technology to Chinese companies.

回溯至20世纪80年代，通用汽车旗下子公司曾研发出钕铁硼磁体，如今这种磁体已广泛应用于电动汽车电机。但遗憾的是，通用汽车后来将这项技术出售给了中国企业。

BMW is using motors without neodymium or other rare earths in models like the iX sport utility vehicle. An electric current generates the magnetic field inside the motor that converts electrons to motion.

宝马则在iX运动型多用途汽车等车型中采用了不含钕及其他稀土元素的电机。该电机通过电流产生磁场，进而将电能转化为动能。

A spike in the price of neodymium around 2011 prompted BMW to begin developing the technology. The luxury carmaker says it has largely solved the drawbacks of these motors, which tend to be heavier, bulkier and less energy efficient than those with rare earths. The company makes the motors in factories near its headquarters in Munich and in Austria.

2011年前后钕价飙升，促使宝马启动了这项无稀土电机技术的研发。这家豪华车企表示已基本解决了此类电机的固有缺陷——相较于含稀土的电机，它们原本存在更重、更臃肿、能效更低的问题。目前，宝马在慕尼黑总部附近的工厂及奥地利的工厂生产这类电机。

The motors are more efficient than those that use rare earths at the speeds required for everyday driving, said Stefan Ortmann, a BMW engineer. There are other advantages, he said. The magnetic field in BMW’s motors can be dialed up or down, and the motors are easier to keep cool.

宝马工程师斯特凡·奥特曼称，在日常行驶所需的车速范围内，这种无稀土电机的能效甚至优于稀土电机。他还提到，该电机还有其他优势：磁场强度可灵活调节，且散热性能更出色。

“We think it’s the sweet spot for us,” Mr. Ortmann said.

“我们认为这正是适合我们的最优方案，”奥特曼表示。

A new version of the motor is even more efficient than earlier machines and will be installed in the iX3 S.U.V. that BMW will sell in the United States next summer. The company says that model will be able to travel 400 miles between charges.

该电机的升级版本能效进一步提升，将于明年夏天搭载在美国上市的宝马iX3运动型多用途汽车上。宝马称，这款车型单次充电续航里程可达约640公里。

The Trump administration is offering grants of up to $3 million to help researchers develop alternatives to rare earths. To qualify, applicants must strive to create magnets twice as powerful as the best rare-earth magnets, a goal that some experts say is unrealistic.

特朗普政府提供了最高300万美元的奖金，用于资助研究人员研发稀土替代材料。申请者须致力于制造出强度达顶级稀土磁体两倍的磁体，但部分专家认为该目标不切实际。

In a document outlining the program, the Department of Energy expressed confidence that the target could be met using artificial intelligence.

美国能源部在一份项目说明文件中表示，有信心借助人工智能技术实现这一目标。

“Recent technological advances have the potential to dramatically accelerate new magnet discovery,” the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, said in August. The department did not respond to a request for comment.

“近期的技术突破有望大幅加速新型磁体的研发进程，”美国能源部先进研究计划局于8月表示。该部未回应置评请求。