Bill Gates-backed fund leads $20m investment into lithium start-up
Breakthrough Energy Ventures promises a more efficient way to extract mineral in Chile
The Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund has led a $20m investment into a start-up promising a more efficient way to extract lithium for batteries.
Oakland-based Lilac Solutions says its ion exchange technology will enable a “massive increase in lithium supply needed for electric vehicles” from brine-based deposits.
The investment comes amid growing concerns about the environmental impacts of lithium extraction from brine beneath the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the driest deserts in the world.
In Chile, which supplies about one-third of the world’s lithium, the mineral is evaporated from brine in large ponds using the sunlight. But in addition to using brine, the process also uses local freshwater resources.
It takes around 70,000 litres of water to produce one tonne of lithium, a similar amount to copper mining, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“The conventional processes for lithium extraction in use today are inefficient, expensive, and cannot deliver the production volumes needed for an electric vehicle future,” Lilac said.
Lilac says its ion exchange technology can boost the lithium recovery rate from brines to 80 per cent from 40 per cent. It can also be used on brines that have low-concentrations of lithium, it said.
“We can’t push for faster EV adoption without the resources to support production,” Carmichael Roberts of the $1bn Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, said. “Lilac Solutions’ novel technology can change the supply and demand equation by helping lithium producers extract much larger quantities at a significantly lower cost, and from new sources. This is the type of industrial innovation required to support a transition to EVs at scale.”
The other investors in the Series A round were The Engine, an investment fund set up by MIT; Lowercarbon Capital; and the Grantham Foundation.
Tesla loses one of its most senior executives and Gigafactory builder
Electrek has learned that Tesla lost one of its most senior executives and the man behind the construction of Tesla’s Gigafactories, Kevin Kassekert, who left the automaker last week.
Kassekert graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1999.
He then went on to have a more than a decade long career in the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley before joining Tesla in 2012 as Director of Infrastructure Development.
In 2016, he was promoted and at the time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote about Kassekert:
“Kevin led the construction and development of our Gigafactory in Nevada, turning what was a pile of rocks in the Sierra Nevada mountains into a factory employing 12 thousand people with greater output than the entire rest of the world’s battery factories combined, in roughly three years. That is insanely badass.”
He was promoted to VP of People and Places – making him one of the top executives at Tesla with responsibilities over “Human Resources, Facilities, Construction, and Infrastructure Development.”
The engineer was behind most of Tesla’s recent construction projects.
Sources told Electrek that Tesla eventually removed his oversight of human resources and Kassekert ended up leaving Tesla altogether last week after more than 7 years at the company.
Tesla and Kassekert both didn’t answer requests for comments.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is known for having somewhat of a high turnover. Last year, the automaker lost three vice presidents over just a week period and some high-level people, like CTO JB Straubel and CFO Deepak Ahuja, left the company, but things appeared to have calmed down on that front over the last few months.
Kassekert is the first executive in a while that we heard is leaving Tesla and if we are to trust Elon’s words on his involvement in building Gigafactories, it sounds like he is going to be missed.
It’s one of the biggest complaints I hear about Tesla and Elon Musk. They can not keep talent for a long period of time. Elon overworks them.
I had dinner with Ben Shaffer, President of Unplugged Performance, who I think has some of the best insights into Tesla, and when I brought up this issue, he had an interesting perspective on it.
He explained that for Tesla it’s not that big of an issue. Of course, they would like to keep talented people as long as possible, but it’s more of a cycle.
There are a lot of talented engineers in the world and most of them want to work at Tesla and for Elon, who Shaffer describes as the best engineer in the world.
Shaffer told me:
“It’s a magnetic effect and the magnet is Elon, the world’s most brilliant engineer. That, and Tesla’s mission, which is solving the world’s biggest problem.”
He believes in Tesla’s ability to keep attracting top talent and even if they don’t stay for too long, Tesla and even Elon himself are absorbing a lot of their knowledge and using it long after they are gone.
It’s also not to say that the people are disposable, but it’s an interesting perspective to look at it as a cycle.
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
- TVTY -37.6% (also CEO resigns), SIX -17.7%, OSUR -10.8%, NVTA -9.1%, LOPE -9.1%, VIAC -7.8%, CPRT -7.3%, TEN -7.2%, SAM -6.9%, WIX -6%, MD -5.6%, AAN -5.6%, RGEN -5.2%, SPTN -4.9%, BCOV -4.3%, CDE -3.8%, CLF -3.7%, QTWO -3.2%, CAKE -3.1%, RCM -3.1%, H -3%, SNPS -2.9%, RETA -2.7%, VMI -2.2%, CONE -2.1%, IAG -1.9%, PE -1.8%, JACK -1.8%, SO -1.8%, PAAS -1.7%, ICLR -1.3%, CAMT -1.2%, GIL -1.1%, VTR -1.1%, VC -1%
M&A news:
- MS -3.6% to acquire ETFC for $13 bln)
Other news:
- BTAI -17.6% (prices offering of 2 mln shares of common stock at $32.00 per share)
- AXGT -8.4% (prices offering of 14,031,336 shares of common stock at $3.75 per share)
- HRTX -5.9% (announces extension of review period for NDA for HTX-011; new PDUFA goal date is June 26)
- IRT -5.6% (announces 8.5 mln share offering)
- TU -3.1% (stock offering)
- TEVA -2.4% (trials for deutetrabenazine fail to meet the primary endpoint)
- APAM -1.3% (stock offering)
- ENDP -1% (names new CEO)
Analyst comments:
- BE -4.9% (downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James)
- CTL -2.5% (downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)
- AAXN -1.5% (downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley)
- AMD -0.7% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo)
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
- STMP +35.1%, ZG +16.5%, DPZ +16%, CYH +14.5%, CAR +11.9%, TXMD +8.8%, CSTM +8.5%, UCTT +7.8%, PRDO +7.4%, XEC +7.3% (also increases dividend), MANT +7%, SNN +6.9%, COMM +6.8%, TRN +6.4%, CGEN +6.3%, MX +6%, i +6%, IMAX +5.1%, SEDG +4.4%, KL +3.6%, KL +3.5%, TSLX +3.5%, TSLX +3.5%, GDOT +3.3%, AGI +3.1%, PXD +2.7% (also increases dividend), MASI +2.6%, LASR +2.6%, MOS +2.4%, HFC +2.3%, ALB +2.2%, SUN +2.2%, FMS +2.2%, EPAM +2.1%, HCC +1.9%, SNBR +1.9%, SYNH +1.9%, SM +1.8%, NCLH +1.7%, FOCS +1.6%, TRGP +1.5%, OGS +1.4%, OVV +1.4%, AROC +1.3%, OVV +1.3%, AEP +1.3%, AROC +1.2%, OIS +1.1%, AXTI +1%
M&A news:
- IOTS +55.2% (to be acquired by Dialog Semiconductor for $12.55 per share)
- ETFC +24.6% (to be acquired by Morgan Stanley in all-stock transaction valued at approx. $13 bln)
- MPC +4.2% (Seven & I Holdings is in discussions to purchase MPC's Speedway gas stations for $22 bln, according to Bloomberg)
- ACM +1% (attributed to M&A speculation)
Other news:
- RMAX +3.3% (increases dividend)
- FL +0.7% (increases dividend)
- ELAN +0.5% (signs deal with MRK to divest Vecoxan for $55 mln)
Analyst comments:
- LZB +1.5% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel)
- ADI +1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup)