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EV Deal Shows ‘Lithium Valley’ Could Be For Real

If all goes to plan, General Motors Co.’s future electric cars will rely on batteries made from a broiling-hot, brownish fluid that gushes from the California desert.

The contours of that future emerged on Friday, when GM struck a deal with a little-known company called Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to supply the country’s largest domestic automaker with tons of lithium from a desolate area called the Salton Sea.

The arrangement is the first concrete sign that “Lithium Valley,” as its boosters call it — a green industrial ecosystem that produces zero-carbon electricity, battery-grade lithium and lots of jobs — could actually become a thing.