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Oakland, California-based Lilac Solutions has raised $145 million in funding from investors including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures to pull lithium out of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The mineral is a critical component of electric vehicle batteries that could reduce U.S. reliance on China if sourced domestically.
"If you care about climate change, we need more lithium to have a shot at meeting our electrification targets," Lilac Solutions CEO Dave Snydacker wrote in a blog post. "If economic security is more your thing, then we need more lithium so we aren't at the mercy of foreign supply chains."
Lithium is a light metal used to make the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries found in everything from EVs and phones to large appliances, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Given lithium's critical role in the transition to clean energy, demand for it is expected to surge 40 times over the next 15 years, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Part of President Joe Biden's push toward EVs and clean energy more broadly is the goal of shifting much of the energy supply chain to the U.S., but just one percent of lithium used in the U.S. annually is sourced domestically, whereas 95 percent of the global supply comes from Australia, Chile, China, and Argentina. Startups like Lilac aim to fix that.
Lilac harvests lithium from the Great Salt Lake by pumping water from the lake, then stripping away the mineral using ceramic beads that bind to its atoms before returning the water to the lake, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unlike existing extraction methods like evaporation, Lilac's methods aim to extract lithium without damaging water levels. It's a crucial difference given water levels in the Great Salt Lake have been shrinking for decades due to agricultural and industrial water usages and the ongoing megadrought in the American Southwest.
"Critically, Lilac returns all water to the lake with no change in chemistry, aside from removal of lithium. This means that our water pumping is non-consumptive and does not negatively impact the lake," Snydacker wrote.
Lilac's new funding will go toward scaling operations. The company aspires to launch a field pilot later in 2024 with the aim of scaling up commercial operations to extract 3,000 tons of lithium from the lake annually by 2026. Snydacker wrote that the Great Salt Lake can support extraction of 20,000 tons of lithium annually, which is Lilac's ultimate goal.
Lilac's Series C includes participation from existing investors like BEV and commodity trader Mercuria, as well as new investors Mitsubishi and The Nature Conservatory. Alongside the funding, the company also welcomed two new board directors. The $145 million round brings Lilac's total investment to $315 million.
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This Bill Gates-Backed Startup Just Raised $145 Million to Source Lithium-Ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles
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14.02.2024
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Oakland, California-based Lilac Solutions has raised $145 million in funding from investors including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures to pull lithium out of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The mineral is a critical component of electric........
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