In the valley alongside Germany’s Black Forest lies a potential solution to one of the most vexing issues facing Europe’s transition to sustainable transport. Some two miles underground is enough lithium for at least 1 million electric vehicles a year, and one miner says it can tap those reserves at roughly half the cost of competing sources and without discharging greenhouse gases. With the critical resource for battery-powered cars usually coming from far-flung regions using methods that scar the landscape, Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd. ’s 1.7 billion-euro ($2 billion) project could be key for Europe’s ambitions to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent. “We will produce a product locally that’s not only cheaper but also greener than the alternatives,” Horst Kreuter, Vulcan’s managing director in Germany, said in an interview. The company — backed by Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart — has signed supply agreements with Renault SA , […]