Stellantis and CATL have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together in developing a technology roadmap for Stellantis’ battery electric vehicles and in “identifying opportunities to further strengthen the battery value chain” or in other words, tabling the idea of jointly investing in critical raw material assets. The agreement hinges upon CATL’s dominance of research surrounding the lithium-phosphate (LxFP) battery chemistry, historically lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) has been the dominant variant but CATL is also spearheading lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate (LMFP) and what it calls M3P, which uses 3 different metals in place of iron to achieve higher energy densities, both of these are in early stages of development but CATL intends for both to be commercialized by the end of 2024.…