Beyond the Magnet: How China’s Rare Earth Stranglehold is Forcing a Revolutionary Shift in India’s EV Ambitions 

Faced with China’s effective embargo on rare earth exports—critical minerals for conventional EV motors—India is urgently accelerating the development and production of alternative technologies, such as magnet-free reluctance motors and those using cheaper ferrite magnets, to secure its electric vehicle ambitions and reduce geopolitical vulnerability, with several domestic companies fast-tracking projects that could begin commercial production within a year to build a more self-reliant and resilient automotive supply chain.

Beyond the Magnet: How China’s Rare Earth Stranglehold is Forcing a Revolutionary Shift in India’s EV Ambitions 

In a unassuming 3,500-square-foot laboratory in Faridabad, far from the gleaming showrooms of automotive capitals, engineers are racing against the clock. Their mission: to future-proof the Indian electric vehicle revolution. The object of their focus isn’t a flashy new battery or a self-driving algorithm, but something more fundamental—the electric motor itself. And the catalyst for this breakneck innovation isn’t just market competition; it’s a stark geopolitical reality: India’s precarious dependence on China for the rare earth minerals that power nearly every modern EV. 

This isn’t a theoretical exercise. As China tightens its export controls on these critical materials—a move widely seen as a political response to global tariffs—India finds itself effectively cut off from the magnetic lifeblood of its automotive future. In response, a quiet but profound technological rebellion is underway. Companies like Sterling Gtake E-Mobility are fast-tracking tests on motors that completely eliminate the need for rare-earth magnets, a pivot that could redefine supply chains, alter national security calculations, and accelerate India’s journey to self-reliance. 

The Geopolitical Tightrope: Why Rare Earths Are the New Oil 

To understand the urgency in that Faridabad lab, one must first grasp the scale of China’s dominance. The term “rare earths” refers to a group of 17 metallic elements with unique magnetic and conductive properties. While not all are geographically rare, the process of mining and refining them is complex, environmentally damaging, and historically concentrated in China. 

Today, China controls over 90% of the world’s rare earth processing capacity. This gives Beijing immense diplomatic clout, turning minerals like neodymium, dysprosium, and praseodymium—essential for the powerful permanent magnets in EV motors—into strategic assets. This dominance is a relic of history; decades ago, Western nations offshored their dirty refining processes, and China willingly built an unassailable monopoly. 

The world got a preview of this power in 2010 when Beijing abruptly halted rare earth shipments to Japan during a diplomatic dispute over disputed islands. The move sent shockwaves through global supply chains and served as a permanent warning. The recent curbs, announced in April 2025 in response to U.S. tariffs, are a stark reminder that this weapon remains in China’s arsenal. While shipments to the U.S. and Europe have seen some resumption, India remains in a chokehold, with not a single import application approved amid ongoing political tensions along their Himalayan border. 

This puts India, the world’s third-largest car market, in a uniquely vulnerable position. Its ambitious targets for EV adoption, crucial for reducing pollution and oil imports, are directly threatened by its inability to secure the most critical component inside the vehicle. 

The Indian Dilemma: Reserves Without Refinement 

The irony is bitter. India itself possesses the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth minerals. The problem isn’t what lies beneath the ground, but what exists above it: a critical lack of technical expertise and infrastructure to process these raw materials into the high-purity, sintered magnets that EV motors require. 

The government recognizes this stark gap. Plans are afoot to offer incentives for mining and processing and to seek collaborations with Japanese and South Korean firms renowned for their expertise. However, everyone involved knows the truth: building a full-scale, competitive rare earth magnet supply chain from scratch is a project that will take the better part of a decade. The EV market, and the geopolitical pressure, won’t wait. 

The Ingenious Alternatives: A Return to Fundamentals and a Leap to Innovation 

This impasse has forced a paradigm shift. Instead of trying to replicate China’s magnet monopoly, Indian engineers and entrepreneurs are asking a more fundamental question: Do we even need them? 

The answer is a resounding “maybe not.” The lab in Faridabad is ground zero for this alternative future. Sterling Gtake, in partnership with Britain’s Advanced Electric Machines, is testing synchronous reluctance motors. This technology, while not new, is experiencing a renaissance. It forgoes permanent magnets entirely, instead using precisely engineered air gaps and tightly wound copper coils to generate magnetic force. The trade-offs historically were size and weight—these motors tended to be bulkier for the same power output. But advancements in materials and digital design have closed this gap significantly. 

“The question we’re getting from automakers isn’t about theoretical specs for 2029,” says James Widmer, CEO of Advanced Electric Machines. “It’s ‘What can you do for us now?'” 

Sterling isn’t alone in this quest. Across the country, a wave of innovation is challenging the magnet-centric status quo: 

• Chara Technologies, a Bengaluru-based startup, has spent five years refining its own magnet-free motor technology. CEO Bhakta Keshavachar admits their motors for two- and three-wheelers are currently about 10-15% heavier but claims they can match or even exceed the performance of magnet-based models. Their next step: scaling production for small cars. 

• Sona Comstar, India’s largest auto-sector importer of rare earth magnets, is pursuing a dual strategy. While planning domestic magnet production to secure the conventional supply chain, they are also actively developing motors that eliminate the need for “heavy” rare earths from China, a key vulnerability. 

• U.S.-based Conifer is taking a different tack. Instead of eliminating magnets, they are returning to a older, cheaper alternative: ferrite magnets. While less powerful by weight than rare-earth magnets, founder Ankit Somani claims that with clever motor design innovation, they can deliver a staggering 10-30% better range while being significantly cheaper. Their factory in Pune is already ramping up production to an annual capacity of 70,000 units. 

This movement mirrors a global trend. Automotive giants like BMW and Nissan have already incorporated rare-earth-free motors into some models, proving the technology’s viability at scale. The barrier has never been purely technical; it has been one of cost, performance optimization, and, until now, a lack of compelling urgency. 

The Road Ahead: A More Resilient, If More Complex, Future 

The shift away from a single, China-dependent technology introduces both challenges and opportunities. 

Challenges: 

• Performance Parity: The relentless pursuit in the EV industry is for more power in a smaller, lighter package. Any alternative technology must meet these high bars for efficiency and power density to win widespread adoption. 

• Supply Chain Build-Out: While avoiding rare earths, these new motors still require robust supplies of high-quality copper, steel, and electronics. India must simultaneously strengthen these ancillary supply chains. 

• Consumer Acceptance: Automakers will need to effectively communicate that “magnet-free” does not mean “inferior,” educating consumers on a technology they never knew they had to think about. 

Opportunities: 

• Supply Chain Resilience: Diversifying motor technology creates a more resilient automotive ecosystem, insulating India from future geopolitical shocks. 

• Cost Reduction: Ferrite magnets and reluctance motors can potentially be cheaper to produce, ultimately lowering the cost of EVs for the Indian consumer—a key factor for mass adoption. 

• Export Potential: If Indian companies can perfect and scale these alternative technologies, they could become global leaders in a suddenly high-demand niche, exporting solutions to other nations seeking to de-risk their own EV transitions. 

The message from the labs and factories of India is clear. The dream of an electric vehicle future is not being abandoned; it is being reimagined. The dependence on rare earth magnets was a technological path chosen by the global auto industry in an era of different geopolitical realities. That era is over. 

The race in Faridabad and Pune is about more than just building a new type of motor. It is about building a new foundation for Indian industry—one that is innovative, self-reliant, and finally free from the magnetic pull of a single, dominant supplier. The future of Indian mobility may not be built on rare earths, but on something far more powerful: necessity-driven ingenuity.