Automakers funding new tech to make greener lithium for EVs

Clean way: Workers install a new Stellantis NV logo banner at the automaker’s technical centre in France. The company has signed supply deals with several DLE start-ups in recent months. —Bloomberg

AUTOMAKERS, investors and even oilfield giant Schlumberger NV are beginning to embrace environmentally friendly technologies to produce lithium that could help meet 25% or more of global demand for the electric vehicle (EV) battery metal by the end of the decade.

Stellantis, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and others have invested millions of dollars or signed supply agreements with so-called direct lithium extraction (DLE) start-ups in recent months in an attempt to propel the technology to commercial production, expected within the next year or two.