Stellantis Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Stellantis in Auburn Hills, will be a strategic investor in Tiamat, a French-based company that is developing and commercializing sodium-ion battery technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sodium-ion technology offers a lower cost per kilowatt-hour and is free of lithium and cobalt. Abundantly available sodium also offers benefits in increased sustainability and material sovereignty.
Tiamat is a spin-off of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is using its best-in-class innovations. The company will use proceeds from the fundraising round that includes Stellantis Ventures to launch construction of a sodium-ion battery plant in France for power tools and stationary storage applications first, and then targeting to scale-up production of second-generation products for BEV applications.
The company was one of 11 top-performing technology startups honored with a Stellantis Ventures Award last year, and is the first company in the world to have recently commercialized sodium-ion technology in an electrified product.
The investment was made to support Stellantis’ mission to provide clean, safe, and affordable mobility to customers around the world. Sodium-ion technology holds the promise of a more cost-effective energy storage compared with today’s widely used lithium-ion battery technology.
“Exploring new options for more sustainable and affordable batteries that use widely available raw materials is a key part of our ambitions of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, which will see us reach carbon net zero by 2038,” says Ned Curic, chief engineering and technology officer for Stellantis.
“Our customers are asking for emissions-free vehicles that offer a combination of robust driving range, performance, and affordability. This is our North Star, as Stellantis and its partners work today to develop ground-breaking technologies for the future.”
Shifting to electric propulsion is a key pillar of the company’s Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan. It includes reaching a 100 percent passenger car battery electric-vehicle (BEV) sales mix in Europe and 50 percent passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by 2030.
To achieve these sales targets, Stellantis is securing approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity. The company is on track to become a carbon net zero corporation by 2038, all scopes included, with single-digit percentage compensation of remaining emissions.
To support that goal, Stellantis has secured supplies of EV raw materials through 2027 by signing key agreements around the world. The company is also investing in the development of alternative technologies for energy storage, including solid-state batteries with factorial energy, lithium-sulfur chemistry with Lyten Inc. and sodium-ion with Tiamat.
