Permanent magnets are a critical resource for renewables, because the generators in some wind turbines and motors in electric vehicles rely on them to run. A Floridian high school student has just shown us how to make a better electric motor without rare earth magnets. Another company is using cloud computing to try to improve electric motor performance — also without rare earths. There’s some exciting advances being made when it comes to electric motors, but how much of a difference can they make?