Mercedes-Benz companions with Canadian mining firm for CO2-neutral lithium hydroxide for EVs • TechCrunch

Mercedes-Benz AG will supply carbon-neutral lithium hydroxide to construct batteries for electrical autos from a Vancouver-based mining startup.

Beginning in 2026, the settlement with Rock Tech Lithium will present Mercedes-Benz AG with a mean of 10,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per yr — sufficient for round 150,000 electrical autos. Mercedes-Benz, which sells about two million autos worldwide yearly, plans to go all-electric by the tip of the last decade.

Automakers worldwide are scrambling to safe the lithium provide required to supply sufficient electrical autos to satisfy their 2030 targets, particularly as they bring about extra of the battery pack manufacturing course of in-house. In September, Chinese language EV maker Nio purchased a 12% stake in Australian lithium mining firm Greenwing Assets because it gears as much as make its personal battery packs starting in 2024.

The partnership with Rock Tech “will play a key position in securing the lithium provide for our battery manufacturing in Europe,” Markus Schäfer, chief know-how officer for Mercedes-Benz AG, mentioned in an announcement.

Beneath the settlement, Rock Tech will provide battery-grade lithium hydroxide to the automaker’s battery companions — together with Envision AESC within the U.S., and ACC and CATL in Europe — from a converter primarily based in Guben, Germany. The automaker additionally works with Farasis and CATL for its China operations.

Over a five-year time period, the settlement represents roughly $1.5 billion in gross sales and greater than 40% of the anticipated annual manufacturing from the deliberate converter capability in Guben, in response to Rock Tech.

Phrases require that Rock Tech supply from websites audited by the Initiative for Accountable Mining Assurances, in response to Mercedes-Benz. Each corporations are anticipated to cooperate in “making a roadmap to reaching CO₂ impartial manufacturing” of lithium hydroxide by the tip of 2030.