ANKARA

The Netherlands-based automotive giant Stellantis announced Thursday it has signed a deal for battery grade lithium hydroxide in the US state of California for its production of electric vehicles.

The deal with lithium resource and renewable energy company Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) will supply Stellantis up to 25,000 metric tons per year of lithium hydroxide over the 10-year term of the agreement.

The CTR will "recover lithium from geothermal brines utilizing renewable energy and steam to produce battery grade lithium products in an integrated, closed-loop process, eliminating the need for evaporation brine ponds, open pit mines, and fossil-fueled processing," Stellantis said in a statement.

The company's target is to sell 5 million battery electric vehicles annually worldwide by 2030.

It has also increased its planned battery capacity by 140 GWh (gigawatt hours) to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five battery manufacturing plants in Europe and North America.

Stellantis was formed in 2021 by Italian Fiat Chrysler and French PSA Group.