Stellantis obtained essential lithium, which is essential for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, from a project in California. This is certainly very helpful for their electrification strategy in the next few years.
Stellantis said it will source from Controlled Thermal Resources Ltd (CTR) which will supply up to 25,000 metric tons per year of lithium hydroxide over a 10 year period.
CTR, which operates in California’s Salton Sea, is also developing a geothermal lithium brine project to meet General Motors’ lithium needs.
In its latest report, Bloomberg said the strong demand made lithium prices soared nearly 500 percent in a year. That adds $1,000 to the price of a new electric vehicle. This condition, of course, makes more affordable electric vehicles difficult to achieve.
Stellantis targets all of its brands to launch 75 battery electric vehicle models in the market and sell 5 million EVs per year by 2030.
The company estimates that in 2024-2025, the auto industry will be short on electric vehicle batteries as manufacturers try to increase EV sales while building new battery factories.
“Ensuring we have a robust, competitive, and low-carbon lithium supply from various partners around the world will enable us to meet our aggressive electric vehicle production plans in a responsible manner,” said Chief Executive Carlos Tavares
Stellantis also recently announced an Electric vehicle battery joint venture between LG Energy Solution. The joint venture, named NextStar Energy, is targeted to start production in the first half of 2024 and has an annual production capacity of 45 gigawatt hours of electric vehicle batteries.
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