Stellantis Ventures, the corporate venture fund of auto maker Stellantis, says it has “become a strategic investor” in Tiamat, a France-based company that is developing and commercialising sodium-ion battery technology.

Sodium-ion technology offers a lower cost per kilowatt-hour, and is free of lithium and cobalt, which can be costly to mine and difficult to obtain.

Auto makers have been in a global race to secure supply of these metals.

If the term ‘sodium’ sounds familiar, it could be because salt is known as sodium chloride. Salt has a 40% sodium and 60% chloride content.

Sodium-ion technology holds the promise of being more a more cost-effective energy storage technology compared with today’s widely used lithium-ion battery technology.

Stellantis notes that “abundantly available sodium offers benefits in increased sustainability and material sovereignty”.

Tiamat was one of 11 top-performing technology startups honoured with a Stellantis Ventures Award last year, and is the first company in the world to have recently commercialised a sodium-ion technology in an electrified product.

“Exploring new options for more sustainable and affordable batteries that use widely available raw materials is a key part of our ambitions of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan that will see us reach carbon net zero by 2038,” says Stellantis chief engineering and technology officer Ned Curic.

“Our customers are asking for emission-free vehicles that offer a combination of robust driving range, performance and affordability. 

“This is our North Star, as Stellantis and its partners work today to develop ground-breaking technologies for the future.”

Shifting to electric propulsion is a key pillar of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan. 

It includes reaching a 100% passenger-car battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales mix in Europe, and 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the US by 2030. 

To achieve these sales targets, Stellantis is securing about 400 GWh of battery capacity. 

Supporting that ambition, the auto maker has secured supplies of EV raw materials through 2027 by signing key agreements around the world. 

Stellantis is also investing in the development of alternative technologies for energy storage, including solid-state batteries with Factorial Energy, lithium-sulfur chemistry with Lyten, and now sodium-ion with Tiamat.

Tiamat is a spin-off of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

The company will use proceeds from the fundraising round that includes Stellantis Ventures to launch construction of a sodium-ion battery plant in France for power tools and stationary storage applications first; then targeting to scale-up production of second-generation products for BEV applications.