Stellantis has invested US$100m in Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to advance CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen project. 

The companies have also expanded their supply deal for lithium carbonate which would help vehicles’ BEV eligibility for consumer incentives under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

Under this revised supply agreement, CTR would provide 65,000 tonnes of battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) annually for 10 years. This followed the initial lithium supply deal inked in June 2022, originally slated for up to 25,000 tonnes.

The first supply is expected in 2027.

Based in California, the project would recover lithium from geothermal brines using renewable energy and steam to produce battery grade lithium products. Stellantis said this eliminated the need for evaporation brine ponds, open pit mines and fossil fuelled lithium processing.

CTR would create 480 construction jobs and 940 direct project jobs when the resource was fully developed.

Hell’s Kitchen was claimed to be “the world’s largest geothermal lithium project” with an annual total capacity of 300,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate.