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General Motors (GM)-CTR Alliance to Aid Lithium Extraction in US

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General Motors (GM - Free Report) recently announced a strategic investment and partnership with Controlled Thermal Resources (“CTR”) to procure low-cost lithium in the United States for the development of its next generation electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Per the alliance deal, the legacy automaker will make a multi-million dollar investment in the Australia-based mining company’s Hell's Kitchen Lithium and Power development project. This will enhance CTR’s efforts to extract lithium from California’s Salton Sea Geothermal Field located in Imperial, CA. In fact, General Motors’ cash infusion will aid CTR’s closed-loop, direct extraction process to recover lithium from geothermal brine using methods that cause less impact to the environment.

The investment in CTR is part of General Motors’ $35-billion global commitment to EVs and autonomous vehicles by the end of 2025. Being the first investor in CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen project, the automaker will get privileged access to the lithium produced in the first stage of the project as well as an option to extend the collaboration to a multi-year relationship.

Lithium is a crucial ingredient in the cathodes and electrolytes used for battery production, largely impacting the costs of the EVs. At present, most of the lithium for batteries is procured from outside the United States. Nonetheless, with the latest alliance, General Motors aims at contracting its lithium supply chain to the United States and boost its battery-production efforts.

Moreover, with General Motors’ newly-announced investment in CTR, the renewable energy developer will be able to facilitate the extraction of battery-grade lithium hydroxide through more environment-friendly methods, resulting in reduced carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional processes like pit mining or evaporation ponds. Thus, the deal will also help enhance General Motors’ vision of bringing more low-cost lithium to the market as a whole.

Per General motors, batteries are the largest cost drivers of EVs. Also, lithium is vital to battery production and will become more important as mass adoption of EVs shoots up. By securing and localizing the lithium supply chain in the United States, the automaker will bolster its ability to make powerful, affordable and high mileage EVs.
 
The first stage of CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen project is projected to begin yielding lithium in 2024, thereby advancing General Motors’ aspiration to make its entire fleet of light-duty vehicles zero emissions by 2035.

Given that there is no full-scale lithium production in the United States from geothermal wells and the fact that the collaboration will have no immediate payoff for General Motors, the deal is viewed as a risky venture for the automaker. Nonetheless, it showcases the Detroit automaker’s ability to think comprehensively in order to fulfill its quest of becoming a full EV company by 2035.

General Motors rolled out its first-generation Ultium Platform last year with the help of a joint venture (JV) with LG Chem and construction of the company’s nearly 3-million-square-foot Ultium Cells battery cell manufacturing facility in Ohio. This was followed by a second factory location for battery manufacturing in Tennessee, as well as a new JV with SolidEnergy Systems.

General Motors, peers of which include Ford (F - Free Report) , Stellantis (STLA - Free Report) and Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) , currently flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of General Motors have appreciated 41.6% year to date, while the industry witnessed a rise of 1.6%.

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