Lithium production, Stellantis to become second largest shareholder in Vulcan Energy

In view of more sustainable lithium production, Stellantis is expanding its existing relationship with Vulcan Energy, a global player with a patented program aimed at making lithium production much more sustainable. Stellantis will put 50 million euro equity investment in Vulcan Energy Resources, also extending the original binding offtake agreement to 10 years.

Stellantis to invest in cleaner lithium production

Vulcan is already producing geothermal energy from its URVBF and plans to produce lithium hydroxide with zero fossil fuels and net zero carbon footprint as part of the Zero Carbon Lithium Project. The latter aims at producing a battery-quality lithium hydroxide chemical product from its combined geothermal energy and lithium resource, which is Europe’s largest lithium resource, in Germany. In other words, the target is to to produce both renewable geothermal energy, and lithium hydroxide, from the same deep brine source.

“Making this highly strategic investment in a leading lithium company will help us create a resilient and sustainable value chain for our European electric vehicle battery production”, said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO. “We continue our quest of forming strong relationships with partners who share our values as we collectively fight against global warming and provide clean, safe and affordable mobility to our customers”.

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“Stellantis’ significant investment in Vulcan and the Zero Carbon Lithium™ Project represents a strong statement by one of the world’s largest automakers regarding sustainable and strategic sourcing of battery materials”, added Vulcan Managing Director, Francis Wedin.