The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 17, 2023
CTR's one-tenth-scale direct lithium extraction unit recovered 95-97% of lithium contained in Hell's Kitchen brine over the 3,000 hours of steady operation over six months of testing.
Stellantis' $100 million investment in CTR will help ensure it has a domestic source of responsibly produced lithium needed for at least 25 new battery EVs the automaker plans to introduce in the North American market by 2030.
To support what will be an important American supply of green lithium for the batteries that will power its growing line of electric vehicles, Stellantis has agreed to invest $100 million to advance the development of Controlled Thermal Resources' Hell's Kitchen geothermal lithium project in the Salton Sea area of Southern California.
"This substantial investment in CTR by Stellantis marks an outstanding milestone for our company and further solidifies our efforts to support sustainable electric vehicle battery production," said Controlled Thermal Resources CEO Rod Colwell.
Geothermal brines below the Hell's Kitchen project are enriched in the lithium that is in high demand for EV batteries. CTR plans to use the available geothermal steam to generate zero-carbon electricity to extract lithium directly and then upgrade it to battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Without the need for actual mining or evaporation ponds, this geothermal-powered process will produce some of the greenest battery-grade lithium products available.
"With electric vehicle adoption growing rapidly in the U.S. and throughout the world, it has never been more important to ensure battery materials are sourced and produced responsibly," said Colwell.
Hell's Kitchen's green credentials will be further bolstered as it delivers excess zero-carbon geothermal electricity into Southern California power grids.
Responsibly sourced low-carbon lithium such as this is important to automakers like Stellantis, which are looking to not only eliminate the carbon dioxide emitting from the vehicles they make but also the CO2 that goes into the manufacturing process.
"The foundation of our industry-leading decarbonization drive includes low-emissions production and sustainable supply as the building blocks for our electric vehicles," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said. "The latest agreement with CTR is an important step in our care for our customers and our planet as we work to provide clean, safe and affordable mobility in North America."
As an added bonus, the domestically produced Hell's Kitchen lithium will help ensure that EVs produced by Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, and Stellantis brands will be eligible for tax credits available to American car buyers under the Inflation Reduction Act.
As part of its $100 million investment into CTR, Stellantis has entered into a supply agreement for 65,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate produced at Hell's Kitchen over a ten-year span. This is more than 2.5 times the lithium that the automaker signed up for under an original agreement with CTR in 2021.
The Southern California project has the potential to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent per year, making it the world's largest potential source of geothermal lithium.
CTR plans to ramp up lithium and geothermal power output at Hell's Kitchen in stages, starting with roughly 55 megawatts of baseload renewable electricity and 25,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent per year during phase-one operations.
The lithium produced will be enough for the batteries in approximately 415,000 standard-size EVs each year.
CTR expects to begin delivering Hell's Kitchen lithium to Stellantis by 2027.
"We applaud the leadership of Stellantis and look forward to working together to set new industry benchmarks for reliability, efficiency, and sustainability," said Colwell.
The lithium from Hell's Kitchen is expected to help Stellantis achieve the objectives of its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, which includes battery EVs making up 100% of its brands' passenger car and light-duty truck sales in Europe and 50% in the U.S. by 2030.
To achieve these sales targets, the automaker is securing the capacity to produce 400 gigawatt-hours of battery manufacturing capacity at six battery gigafactories in North America and Europe.
Stellantis has been aggressively pursuing sources of the raw materials needed for these battery factories. In addition to CTR, the global automaker has cut EV metal partnerships with Alliance Nickel (nickel-cobalt), Element 25 (manganese), Kuniko (nickel-cobalt), McEwen Copper (copper), Terrafame (battery chemicals), and Vulcan Energy Resources (lithium).
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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