ImpactAlpha, October 12 — Electric vehicle and battery makers are facing a shortage of lithium, an essential element for production. Most of the world’s lithium reserves are found in brines, or natural deposits of salt water.
Oakland-based Lilac Solutions’s ion exchange technology extracts the lithium more efficiently. Expanding lithium production is urgent, “otherwise the transition to electric vehicles will be delayed,” says Lilac Solutions’ Dave Snydacker.
The financing was backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Earthshot Ventures, MCJ Collective, BMW i Ventures and others. Prime Coalition backed Lilac last year. EnergyX raised $20 million in May to commercialize its own process to extract lithium more efficiently.
The EV race is on
General Motors and Ford are ramping up to take on Tesla. GM is rolling out dozens of electric cars, trucks and delivery vans, while Ford is investing $7 billion to build three U.S. plants for electric batteries and pickup trucks.
