The inaugural ribbon of the first French gigafactory of batteries intended for the automotive sector has barely been cut when the Stellantis group has just announced the signing of an agreement with the German-Australian start-up Vulcan for the construction of a geothermal power plant. deep in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin).
A technical feasibility study will be undertaken to check the possibility of supplying the manufacturing site of the DS7 and the Peugeot 308, e-308, 408 and 508 with heat and electricity, but also of extracting lithium from the sub- soil in Haute-Alsace, which could be used as raw material for the group’s battery production. The results of the study will determine the volumes concerned as well as the amount of the investment. The two partners plan to carry the project equally.
Vulcan filed an exploratory permit in May for both geothermal exploitation and lithium extraction in an area of 480 square kilometers around Mulhouse. The company hopes to obtain permission to conduct its seismic studies by mid-2024. These are necessary to establish the exact location and depth of the drilling, which could reach 3,500 meters.
The future installation should deliver its first calories in 2026. They will be partly converted into electricity. Everything will supply the Stellantis Mulhouse painting unit, which consumes a lot of electricity and heat. Beyond the reduction of its carbon impact (Stellantis is aiming for a 50% reduction in emissions from its factories between 2021 and 2025), it is also an opportunity for the manufacturer to increase its energy independence.
Expand the operating area
However, behind the decarbonization of the Mulhouse plant looms another challenge: supplying the car manufacturer with lithium, a key element of the batteries equipping its electric vehicles. The geothermal installation will indeed be equipped with a system allowing the extraction of lithium from geothermal water, a process developed by Vulcan, which makes it possible to recover up to 95% of the metal present in the brine.
The lithium chloride thus recovered must then be converted into lithium hydroxide to be used in batteries. This conversion will initially take place at the central Vulcan site, currently under construction in Frankfurt (Hesse), but the operator is considering the construction of a conversion plant in the medium term to supply the French market specifically.
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