Stellantis places binding lithium order with Vulcan Energy

Vulcan Energy Resources has entered into a binding lithium offtake agreement with Stellantis. Vulcan will supply Stellantis with a minimum of 81,000 tonnes and a maximum of 99,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide during the five-year contract period.

The agreed delivery start date is 2026, both companies said. Apart from the delivery start date, the five-year term (i.e. until 2031) and the delivery volume range, both Stellantis and Vulcan Energy do not provide any further figures on the agreement. The financial volume of the contract and, for example, the quantities planned for 2026 have not been disclosed.

Therefore, only average values result from the available information: If the agreed delivery volume were evenly distributed over the five years, this would correspond to between 16,200 and 19,800 tonnes per year. This means that Stellantis takes significantly more lithium hydroxide than another automotive Vulcan customer.

A few days ago, Vulcan Energy also reached a binding purchase agreement with Renault. According to this agreement, Vulcan will purchase (also from 2026) between 26,000 and 32,000 tonnes – not per year, however, but over the entire contract period of six years. This would be the equivalent of between 4,333 and 5,333 tonnes per year on average.

Stellantis says that the supply agreement with Vulcan is part of the electrification strategy detailed at EV Day in July 2021. At the time, it said Stellantis had signed two memoranda of understanding with partners to supply sustainable lithium from geothermal brine – one in Europe and one in North America. No names were given at the time, but the European partner was apparently Vulcan Energy.

Stellantis is known to be currently planning three battery plants in Europe: through the ACC joint venture, in which Daimler is now also involved, PSA had planned battery plants in Douvrin and Kaiserslautern before the merger with FiatChrysler. A battery project in Termoli, Italy, is also being added from the FCA part of Stellantis.

“Stellantis is moving forward on its electrification strategy with speed and power. This agreement is further proof that we have the competitive spirit to deliver on our commitments,” said Michelle Wen, Stellantis’ Chief Purchasing and Supply Chain Officer. “Safe, clean and affordable freedom of mobility represents a strong expectation of our societies and we are committed to deliver on that matter.”

“The definitive offtake agreement with Stellantis aligns with our mission to decarbonize the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle supply chain,” said Francis Wedin, Vulcan’s Managing Director. “The Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium Project also intends to reduce the transport distance of lithium chemicals into Europe, and our location in Germany, proximal to Stellantis’ European gigafactories, is consistent with this strategy.”

In October, Australian-listed Vulcan Energy had been the target of a short-seller attack. Short-seller J-Capital accused Vulcan of misleading its shareholders with implausible assumptions – more specifically, overstating brine extraction rates and how much of the lithium it contained could actually be filtered out using available processes.

Like Renault, Stellantis set two conditions: “The supply agreement is subject to the successful start of commercial operation at the Vulcan facility and full product qualification.”

stellantis.com, markitdigital.com (PDF)