Australian lithium developer Vulcan Energy Resources said on November 29th that it had signed a binding agreement with carmaker Stellantis, according to foreign media reports. According to the agreement, Vulcan will supply battery-grade lithium hydroxide to Stellantis from 2026. In the first five years, Vulcan will supply about 81000 to 99000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide to Stellantis.
Stellantis is in line with Vulcan's battery metal supply chain decarbonization strategy, and the company's electrification strategy also includes ensuring a sustainable supply of lithium, which the company has identified as a key battery raw material available. By 2030, more than 70 per cent of Stellantis sales in Europe and 40 per cent in the US will be low-emission vehicles. Stellantis also plans to build five battery manufacturing plants in Europe and the United States with a total capacity of 260 GWh.
Stellantis will use battery-grade lithium hydroxide supplied by Vulcan in its three battery plants in Europe: Termoli in Italy, Kaiserslautern in Germany and Douvrin in France, the latter two of which are joint ventures between Stellantis and Automotive Cells Company (ACC). By 2030, the three battery plants will have a total capacity of at least 120 GWh.
Lithium is the core raw material for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. As the world shifts to cleaner forms of energy, this material is very attractive. Vulcan is one of many companies that are testing the lithium extraction (DLE) process, which uses less land and groundwater.
A week ago, Vulcan signed a second supply agreement with French carmaker Renault to supply Renault with 26000-32000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium, which will be extracted from its geothermal brine deposit project in Germany.
Vulcan has also reached supply agreements with Belgian battery recycling group Umicore and South Korea's LG Chemical.
