A NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GM AND LITHION

General Motors and Lithium Recycling are establishing a partnership to create a circular electric vehicle battery ecosystem. “GM is aggressively seeking to scale up its battery cell and electric vehicle production in North America, reaching our goal of more than 1 million units annually by 2025. We also plan to eliminate tailpipe emissions from all our new light-duty vehicles by 2035. To do this, we are developing a supply chain and recycling strategy that can grow with us,” notes Jeff Morrison, GM’s vice president of global purchasing and supply chain.

The technology developed by Lithion recovers more than 95 percent of the material with the utilization of renewable energy. The process uses 90% less water than mining and emits 75% fewer GHGs.

The agreement with GM “marks a key milestone in Lithion’s commercial deployment and paves the way for a much-needed breakthrough in transportation electrification by enabling material circularity in a cost-effective and sustainable manner in the EV battery industry,” said Benoît Couture, Lithion’s President and CEO. It includes investments in research and development to ensure battery recyclability, also includes material quality verification for the production of new batteries and the potential acquisition of battery materials.

With the opening of its first battery plant in the U.S., two under construction and another planned, the U.S. giant is looking to increasingly localize its battery materials supply chain in North America.