Stellantis takes $52 million stake in sustainable lithium

Australian-German startup that intends to mine lithium, a vital component in electric vehicle batteries, with zero ozone depleting substance outflows.

The venture gives Stellantis a 8 percent stake in Vulcan, making it the second-biggest investor, and will be utilized to grow the excavator’s endeavors in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany, Stellantis said Friday. The two organizations have likewise stretched out to 10 years a five-year understanding declared last November.

“Making this profoundly essential interest in a main lithium organization will assist us with making a tough and reasonable worth chain for our European electric vehicle battery creation,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said.

Stellantis, with its accomplices Mercedes-Benz and Total/Saft, plans to open somewhere around three battery plants in Europe before very long, in France, Germany and Italy.

The automaker says it will require 150 gigawatt-long stretches of battery ability to arrive at its 2030 objective of selling just electric vehicles in Europe.

As a component of the underlying five-year understanding, Vulcan said it would supply somewhere in the range of 81,000 and 99,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Europe to Stellantis beginning in 2026.

Vulcan is one of various organizations testing an immediate lithium extraction (DLE) technique that utilizes less land and groundwater, making it more feasible than the most widely recognized existing strategies for open-pit mines and brackish water dissipation lakes.

Notwithstanding Stellantis, Vulcan has consented to supply arrangements with Renault Group, battery producer LG Chem and Belgian reusing bunch Umicore.