BMW i Ventures invests in sustainable EV battery manufacturing

MANILA: BMW i Ventures has invested in the Series A-1 financing round of Mangrove Lithium, a feedstock-flexible modular platform producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate. BMW i Ventures is joined by existing investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

BMW i Ventures is BMW Group’s venture capital firm, investing money and resources in startups in the fields of transportation, manufacturing, supply chain and sustainability.

Mangrove Lithium’s electrochemical process eliminates the need for a carbonate plant, reducing the operating costs and time associated with first converting feedstock into lithium carbonate. This is essential to the future of electric vehicles, as a sustainable and scalable production of lithium is needed to meet the increasing battery demand.

Mangrove’s modular solution can be scaled to any capacity, at point of extraction or point of manufacturing or recycling, and co-located with upstream lithium producers or cathode and cell manufacturers. 

Mangrove’s technology is the lowest-energy solution on the market, so it is not only the least expensive solution, but also the greenest. Sites with renewable energy sources could nearly eliminate their carbon footprint, as well as most of the harmful reagents used in today’s lithium refining.

“We are seeing an increasing need for these types of technologies as lithium demand increases, and accessibility to green solutions remains limited today,” said Kasper Sage, Managing Partner at BMW i Ventures Kasper Sage observed.

“Mangrove's core technology offers the opportunity to fundamentally improve the supply chain of lithium production unlocking new lithium supply in a more environmentally friendly way.”

Photos from BMW

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