[ad_1]
PARIS (Reuters) – Stellantis said on Friday it will invest in French sodium-ion battery startup Tiamat to diversify its portfolio and mass produce electric vehicles while reducing exposure to scarce resources.
The exact amount of the investment, which is part of initial funding of 150 million euros from Tiamat, was not disclosed.
Tiamat CEO Hervé Buffet told reporters that part of the funds will be used to build a battery factory in northern France.
The facility, the fifth so-called gigafactory in the region’s electric vehicle supply chain, should have an initial capacity of 0.7 gigawatt hours by 2026, with the potential to increase to 5 gigawatt hours by 2029, he said. added.
Tiamat, which was born in 2017 from France’s national scientific research agency CNRS, claims it can make competitive batteries without lithium, a metal that has become very popular in the global electrification boom. It uses sodium, which is much more abundant, instead of lithium.
Batteries are cheap and have a short range, making them suitable for small cars. The reduced range can be compensated for by faster charging capacity, Tiamat says.
“We are exploring new options that are more sustainable and affordable.”
Batteries that use widely available raw materials are a key part of our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, which aims to achieve net zero carbon by 2038,” said Ned, director of engineering and technology at Stellantis.・Kulik says.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Nick Macfie)
[ad_2]
Source link
