FILE PHOTO: Alpha lithium employees work at the Tolillar salt flat, in Salta, Argentina August 13, 2021. Picture taken with a drone August 13, 2021. REUTERS/Miguel Lo Bianco/File Photo
CALIPATRIA, Calif. (Reuters) - 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 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.
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