Leading automaker Tesla finally broke ground at the enormous Lithium Refinery outside Corpus Christie, Texas, on May 8.
Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk arrived at the groundbreaking ceremony with a Cybertruck loaded with shovels. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also joined the billionaire to kick off the program.
Notably, this major advancement comes almost a year after Tesla first announced plans to develop a lithium refinery in Texas last year. It also marks the company’s successful negotiations with the government of Texas in November 2022.
Objectives
Tesla expects the new Lithium Refinery to produce enough battery-grade lithium to supply the production of 1 million EVs per year by 2025.
“We can expect to produce lithium for about a million vehicles and produce more battery grade lithium than the rest of North American refining capacity combined.
We’re aiming to finish construction next year and then reach hopefully full production about a year later. Which is great because this is extremely fast by normal standards But that’s how we do things. We’ve got a number of innovations that we think will be quite effective in the refining of the lithium that haven’t been done before.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
In essence, the $375 million facility will support the company’s battery cell production at Giga Texas in Austin.
The project will drive Tesla to diversify from its primary car-making business into the intricate lithium processing and refinement field. CEO Musk believes this move is crucial for Tesla to achieve its lofty EV sales objectives.
“As we look ahead a few years, a fundamental choke point in the advancement of electric vehicles is the availability of battery grade lithium.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Tesla aims to complete the Lithium Refinery construction in 2024 and start full production by 2025.
Tesla becomes the sole North American automaker to refine its own lithium
Tesla will be the first major automaker in North America to process its own lithium. The processing of many important minerals, including lithium, is currently dominated by China.
“Texas wants to be able to be self-reliant, not dependent upon any foreign hostile nation for what we need. We need lithium.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Nonetheless, Tesla will still continue to purchase the metal from its suppliers, which include Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp, per CEO Musk.
“We intend to continue to use suppliers of lithium, so it’s not that Tesla will do all of it.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
CEO Musk remained mum over Tesla’s plans for the spodumene concentrate, or raw lithium, that will be processed at the facility. However, it should be noted that Piedmont Lithium Inc. and other companies have supply agreements with Tesla.
In hindsight, CEO Musk once referred to the process of refining lithium as a “license to print money.” He has even urged other businesses to join in since it still intends to purchase battery-grade lithium from other suppliers.
Tesla did not disclose much detail about its technology. However, it stated that the process would eliminate several procedures and lower waste.
“There’s no toxic emissions or anything — you could live right in the middle of the refinery and not suffer any ill effects.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Moreover, the EV giant also announced that it intends to use lithium from recovered batteries in addition to bringing in lithium ore for production.
You can watch Tesla’s Lithium Groundbreaking Ceremony below:
