Comment by observationist
5 days ago
There are also non rare earth magnets being explored. Niron - Iron nitride - magnets and ultrasonic compaction and other tech that wasn't feasible a while back are now becoming very practical. Japan could probably get to a dominant place with a solid research program, it'd give them a huge advantage for EVs and other motors.
Dont forget about good old externally excited motors like what Renault uses, no rare earths needed.
Definitely, and new engineering around axial flux / pancake motors are getting really exciting. 1000 HP motors in a single wheel - https://yasa.com/news/yasa-smashes-own-unofficial-power-dens...
Incredible what can be done. If Japan ever wants actual mecha warriors for their military, they're going to need motors like that.