Segment
Electric powertrain: motors, magnets, power electronics and voltage
The electric powertrain is simpler than a combustion one and depends on a narrower set of critical inputs: a motor that usually needs rare-earth magnets, an inverter that increasingly needs silicon carbide, an architecture decision about voltage that touches every component, and a charger carried in the vehicle that decides how quickly it refills from an ordinary supply.
In one sentence
An electric powertrain comprises the traction motor, the inverter and other power electronics, the transmission, and the high-voltage architecture connecting them to the battery.
The chain is short. The battery supplies direct current; the inverter converts it to alternating current at the frequency and amplitude the motor needs; the motor produces torque; a single-speed reduction gear takes it to the wheels. Efficiency at each stage compounds into range, which is why small percentage improvements are pursued so hard. Running alongside it is a second, smaller conversion chain — the on-board charger that fills the pack from a wall supply and the converter that runs the twelve-volt system — which is increasingly built into the same housing as the inverter.
Two dependencies dominate. Most high-performance traction motors use permanent magnets containing rare-earth elements whose processing is highly concentrated. And the inverter's switching devices are moving from silicon to silicon carbide, which is more efficient and more expensive and depends on a separate substrate supply chain.
How this breaks down
Split by component, and by the two material dependencies that constrain them.
- High-voltage interconnectThe orange-sheathed hardware that moves power around a vehicle and into it from a charger.Definition page
- Traction motorsPermanent magnet, induction and wound-rotor machines, and why vehicles increasingly use more than one.Definition pageChokepoint
- Rare-earth magnetsNeodymium magnets, the separation step that is the real constraint, and where else they are used.Breaks down into: Rare-earth separation · Magnet manufacturing2 pages belowChokepoint
- Silicon carbide electronicsWide-bandgap switches in the inverter, and what they buy at the vehicle level.Definition pageChokepoint
- On-board chargersThe converter carried in the vehicle, and the component that actually sets home and workplace charging speed.Definition page
- High-voltage architectureThe system-level decision that touches the battery, the inverter, the cables and the charger.Definition page
Companies across Powertrain
Every company named on a step below this page, ordered by how many of those steps it appears at. Compiled from the pages themselves rather than written separately, so the two cannot disagree. Not a ranking and not a recommendation.
- Lynas Rare EarthsAustralia2 steps
- Delta ElectronicsTaiwan1 step
36 more companies appear at a single step each; they are named on the pages for those steps.
How these pages are written
Each page explains one technology in plain language, states what it depends on, and names companies by what they supply at that step. Company roles are described qualitatively and deliberately carry no market shares, revenue figures or rankings — those change faster than an explainer can, and a stale number is worse than none. Ticker links point at company pages on this site and are provided for reference only.
Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation, or a forecast. A company named on a page about a technology is not thereby a good investment, and the chokepoints described are structural facts about supply chains rather than predictions about prices. Technology moves; where a page describes something as unresolved or in development, that was true when it was written.
Plutux is not an investment adviser. Market data and AI-generated analysis are for information and education only, not investment advice. Disclaimer