BMW is accelerating the expansion of electromobility and intends to put around ten million fully electric vehicles on the road in the next ten years or so. By 2030, at least half of the BMW Group’s global sales should come from fully electric vehicles. The demand for lithium, an important raw material for the production of battery cells, is increasing accordingly.
In order to promote the environmentally friendly and resource-saving mining of lithium, the BMW Group is now investing in an innovative process developed by the US start-up Lilac Solutions via its venture capital fund BMW i Ventures. Lilac Solutions has developed and patented a technology that uses an ion exchanger to significantly improve the removal of lithium from the brine of salt water deposits in terms of efficiency, costs and sustainability, as the manufacturer reports.
“Innovative technologies lead to better, more sustainable and more efficient access to raw materials. By investing in start-ups, we are accelerating the development of new technologies, promoting competition and providing impetus that makes it easier for young companies to access the market,” says Wolfgang Obermaier, Head of Indirect Goods and Services, Raw Materials, BMW Group production partner. “By investing in Lilac Solutions, we are driving technology advances in the lithium mining space. The focus is on responsible and sustainable mining.”
bmw
According to its own statement, the BMW Group has placed sustainability and resource conservation at the center of its corporate strategy. A key aspect of this is compliance with environmental and social standards in the supply chain. In the case of critical raw materials, the requirement to rule out violations of environmental standards and human rights poses a particular challenge – this is also the case with lithium. The BMW Group’s purchasing department has therefore taken additional measures for this raw material and buys it directly from the raw material producers in order to make it available to the battery cell suppliers. In this way, the company wants to create complete transparency about the origin and mining methods of the material.
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Absolutely exaggerated production numbers.
Very well!
European Lithium is also pursuing the same goal with the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria/Carinthia.
A bit more security of supply through deliveries from the EU area could also be of interest for BMW and all other car manufacturers in the EU. For BMW, this supplier would be around the corner, so to speak!
More on this on their home page European lithium (europeanlithium.com)