Wanting to safe all of the lithium it must energy a rising lineup of electrical automobiles, Common Motors mentioned on Tuesday that it’ll lead a $50 million funding into lithium extraction and refining startup EnergyX.
With the deal, the legacy automaker says it should assist EnergyX scale its lithium-extraction tech. In trade, GM will get unique entry to a few of the lithium that EnergyX sources from mining corporations in North and South America.
The businesses declined to reveal the extent of this exclusivity deal, however in an e-mail to TechCrunch, GM spokesperson David Caldwell mentioned it “is capped at sure factors, not limitless.” The businesses additionally didn’t identify the opposite traders concerned within the $50 million funding spherical.
Lithium demand has surged previously few years, thanks in no small half to the rise of electrical automobiles and renewables. The push for evermore lithium is driving corporations comparable to EnergyX to hunt extra environment friendly — and fewer environmentally damaging — extraction strategies. Earlier this 12 months, EnergyX mentioned that its tech can “extract lithium from brine sources utilizing little to no water, and doesn’t require heavy metals or chemical components.”
The Austin, Texas, and San Juan, Puerto Rico–based mostly startup bears no relation to a equally named, Seoul-based firm known as Power X, which focuses on decarbonizing buildings.
Like different automakers, this isn’t GM’s first funding in a lithium mining firm. In January, the automaker mentioned it will pump a whopping $650 million into Lithium Americas to assist fund a mine in Nevada.
