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Stellantis invests more than $100 million in California lithium project

Stellantis said it would invest more than $100 million in California's Controlled Thermal Resources, its latest bet on the direct lithium extraction (DLE) sector amid the global hunt for new sources of the electric vehicle battery metal. The investment by the Chrysler and Jeep parent announced on Thursday comes as the green energy transition and U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have fueled concerns that supplies of lithium and other materials may fall short of strong demand forecasts. DLE technologies vary, but each aims to mechanically filter lithium from salty brine deposits and thus avoid the need for open pit mines or large evaporation ponds, the two most common but environmentally challenging ways to extract the battery metal. Stellantis, which has said half of its fleet will be electric by 2030, also agreed to nearly triple the amount of lithium it will buy from Controlled Thermal, boosting a previous order to 65,000 metric tons annually for at least 10 years, starting in 2027. "This is a significant investment and goes a long way toward developing this key project," Controlled Thermal CEO Rod Colwell said in an interview. The company plans to spend more than $1 billion to separate lithium from superhot geothermal brines extracted from beneath California's Salton Sea after flashing steam off those brines to spin turbines that will produce electricity starting next year. That renewable power is expected to cut the amount of carbon emitted during lithium production. Rival Berkshire Hathaway has struggled to produce lithium from the same area given large concentrations of silica in the brine that can form glass when cooled, clogging pipes. Colwell said a $65 million facility recently installed by Controlled Thermal can remove that silica and other unwanted metals. DLE equipment licensed from Koch Industries would then remove the lithium. "We're very happy with the equipment," he said. "We're going to deliver. There's just no doubt about it." Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares called the Controlled Thermal partnership "an important step in our care for our customers and our planet as we work to provide clean, safe and affordable mobility." Both companies declined to provide the specific investment amount. Controlled Thermal aims to obtain final permits by October and start construction of a commercial lithium plant soon thereafter, Colwell said. Goldman Sachs is leading the search for additional debt and equity financing, he added.

Maserati honors Juan Manuel Fangio with F Tributo special editions

Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio was one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Logging a record five F1 championships between 1951-57, four of them back-to-back, Fangio was the winningest driver in F1 history until Michael Schumacher won his sixth championship in 2003, almost half a century later. Maserati is now paying homage to Fangio with two special edition vehicles.  The Ghibli and Levante F Tributo commemorate Fangio's F1 victories behind the wheel of a Maserati 250F in the 1957 season. Fangio had previously won the world championship for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz, though in 1954 he won the driver's championship while driving for both Maserati and Mercedes. The "F" stands for Fangio, and "Tributo" means "tribute" in Italian. Though Maserati does not appear to have increased performance figures for the F Tributo duo, they do come in two exclusive paint jobs. Rosso Tributo is a vibrant red inspired by the crimson hue that represented Italy in the era when race car liveries were determined by country of origin. The second color, Azzurro Tributo, is a blue that represents, along with yellow, the flag of Modena, Maserati's home. Both cars also feature yellow brake calipers and a yellow outline on their 21-inch wheels, a callback to the yellow stripe on the nose of Fangio's 250F. The yellow cues continue on the inside, where giallo contrast stitching brightens up the black leather interiors. The Ghibli and Levante are also denoted by black "F Tributo" badges on the front fenders, as well as body-colored Maserati trident logos on the C-pillars. We're not totally convinced that a luxury sedan and crossover would be the type of car Fangio would love to drive, but if this is your bag you should act quickly. Maserati hasn't said how many F Tributo cars they plan to sell, only stating that numbers will be "very limited". 

Alfa Romeo Giulia is going electric

In an interview with Auto Express, Alfa Romeo's CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato revealed a bunch of details about the future of the company and electric vehicles. But the most interesting is that, despite the world's insatiable appetite for SUVs, the Giulia sport sedan will get another generation, and one that's entirely electric. Apparently, the car will be built on the STLA Large platform, one of several EV architectures Stellantis announced back July. Considering that there will be STLA Small and STLA Medium platforms, we're a little surprised that Alfa would go with the big option, since the current Giulia isn't particularly big. It could be that Alfa is aiming for particularly long range from the next Giulia, and maybe even more interior space. We bring up range because the Large platform is said to accept 101-kWh to 118-kWh of battery capacity and up to 500 miles of range. It may also be sharing the platform and development with the future Stelvio, like the current one does with the Giorgio platform. Imparato also talked a bit about the high-performance Quadrifoglio models. The company is definitely still open to them in the electric era, but only if they can make them perform the way they want. That seems unlikely to be an issue for a couple of reasons. One, Imparato told Auto Express that the man who helped develop the Giulia Quadrifoglio GTA is on the team developing STLA Large. The other is that Stellantis has a wild range of motors planned. At the low end will be 94-horsepower motors, but at the other will be 402-horsepower units. There should be a pairing in there that finds a good balance between raw power and finesse, especially when just one makes around 80% of the power of the current Quadrifoglio's twin-turbo V6. Stellantis aims to have its 500-mile STLA Large platform cars, among the others, ready for 2024. Odds seem good that the electric Alfas will start showing up at that time, since the brand is planning to be fully electric in 2027. That will make it the first Stellantis brand to be entirely electric. Related Video: 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid powertrain feature walkthrough | Autoblog