For EV and Battery-Mining Startups, SPACs Are a Lifeline

With big cash infusions, Faraday Future and DeepGreen can finally get first production going

A deep sea worker holding a “nodule” containing nickel, manganese, and copper. Photo courtesy of DeepGreen

Over the next couple of weeks, Faraday Future, a California startup building a $180,000 electric crossover SUV, is to go public in a $3.4 billion reverse merger. Faraday’s exceedingly stylish flagship FF 91, scheduled for delivery next year, is chock-full of smart design and digital touches. Yet, amid a coming scrum of other elegant electrics, in addition to market-leading Tesla — not to mention little-spoken questions surrounding when or if the mass market will in fact embrace EVs — no one can say that Faraday will be left standing once the IPO mania passes.

DeepGreen Metals, a Canadian startup preparing to sweep the ocean bottom for the primary elements required in lithium-ion batteries, announced a week ago that it, too, will go public in a $2.9 billion reverse merger. At a time of worry over shortages of metals for electric vehicles, DeepGreen says it will be delivering a steady supply from the richest untapped nickel and cobalt deposit in the world. But as with Faraday, there are questions surrounding whether DeepGreen will manage to pull off its unprecedented and expensive venture.