Vulcan Energy has bolstered its board of directors as it pushes forward with its goal of becoming a producer of zero carbon lithium-ion battery materials.
The company made former Tesla head of battery and energy supply chain, Annie Liu, and ex-Evonik executive Dr. Heidi Grön non-executive directors.
EU Sustainable Battery and CO2 policy expert Julia Poliscanova joins the company as special advisor to the board.
Vulcan wants to create lithium hydroxide monohydrate from its lithium brine project in Germany that can be traced through the entire electric vehicle supply chain using software by Circular.
Vulcan will implement the tracing software on its supply contracts with European OEMs from 2024.
The aim is to help battery makers meet their sustainability objectives for material traceability and CO2 transparency.
Battery raw materials transparency, traceability and sustainability were directly targeted in the latest European Commission Battery Regulation, proposed last December.
German chemicals expert Dr. Grön was senior vice-president production and technology at Evonik.
Liu led and managed Tesla’s multi-billion-dollar strategic partnerships and sourcing portfolios that support the firm’s energy and battery business, including raw materials sourcing efforts such as lithium for battery cells.
Liu will provide consulting services to Vulcan in relation to the lithium market, battery supply chain and offtake.
Poliscanova is a senior director with the EU’s Transport and Environment.
She is also on the steering committee for the Battery CO2 Passport programme of the Global Battery Alliance