The partnership between Renault Group and Terraframe will support the automaker’s strategy to offer competitive, sustainable, electric vehicles.
Terrafame will supply Renault Group with low-carbon and fully traceable nickel sulphate for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the future supply of nickel sulphate from Terrafame, representing up to 15GWh of annual capacity. The cooperation will start by paying particular attention to sustainability systems and defining detailed metrics for traceability beyond solutions currently used for EV battery chemicals production.
Renault Group is spearheading the deployment of higher performing, low-carbon and reusable batteries while building a unique and leading electric ecosystem in Northern France known as Renault ElectriCity. Combined with the recent partnership with Vulcan to secure low-carbon lithium and the alliance with Veolia & Solvay to recycle battery materials in a closed loop, this new agreement marks another step towards the reduction of the environmental footprint of EVs throughout their life cycle and towards the objective of carbon neutrality for the Group in Europe by 2040.
The direct partnership between a leading OEM manufacturer such as Renault Group and upstream production like Terrafame is a game-changer in the battery materials value chain. Terrafame’s bioleaching-based production process (extraction of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms) uses about 90% less energy in the production of nickel sulphate than the industry average. In addition, Terrafame’s integrated production process begins and ends on one industrial site from a mine to battery chemicals production. These unique and energy-efficient features enable a fast-track to implement sustainability systems and create full transparency throughout the entire value chain. Apart from the detailed metrics, a commitment over the entire supply chain simplifies risk management and pricing mechanisms for all parties involved.
The memorandum is not exhaustive but reflects the parties’ mutual understanding and common intention to deepen the cooperation over the battery raw materials. The parties seek to introduce a set of binding agreements involving also other actors in the EV battery value chain to take part in this development step.
Source: Renault Group
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