Tesla's new Texas lithium refinery to support 1M electric vehicles by 2025

• Tesla formally broke ground Monday on a Texas lithium refinery, making it the only U.S. automaker to refine its very own lithium.

Chief executive officer Elon Musk claimed the refinery will create adequate battery grade lithium for 1 million electrical vehicles by 2025, which would make Tesla the biggest processor of lithium in The United States and Canada. Tesla will certainly remain to depend on existing vendors like Albermarle and also Livent as it intends to reach its 2023 sales goal of around 1.8 million cars internationally.

Lithium is the key critical product in lithium-ion batteries that power the electric vehicle change. Today, the U.S. generates simply 1% of the globe's lithium, with Australia, Chile and also China leading the way. The Biden management's EV tax credit history intends to stimulate more domestic battery product sourcing and production and also reduce the U.S.'s dependence on China, which organizes 60% of the world's lithium refining capacity and also virtually 80% of the globe's lithium-ion battery production capacity.

" As we look in advance a couple of years, a fundamental choke point in the advancement of electric vehicles is the availability of battery grade lithium," said Musk, throughout the ground-breaking ceremony beyond Corpus Christi.

The chief executive officer increased to the occasion in a Cybertruck full with a roofing system rack accessory that captured the attention of market viewers. Government officials such as Texas Guv Greg Abbott, Nueces County Judge Connie Scott and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Dept. of Energy Kathleen Hogan went to the occasion.

Musk claimed the business aims to finish building and construction on the refinery next year, with complete scale manufacturing slated for 2025. The exec explained the timeline as "incredibly rapid by regular requirements." That may hold true, however it's slower than Tesla had actually originally projected. During Tesla's Investor Day in March, Drew Baglino, senior vice head of state of powertrain as well as energy engineering, stated the company aimed to have the refinery operational by the end of this year as well as start production early next year.

Baglino likewise said at the time that the refinery would have a 50 gigawatt-hour per year capacity, something Musk did not confirm throughout Monday's event.

Throughout Investor Day, Musk also urged various other startups to obtain associated with refining lithium, which he likened to "minting money."

"We're doing it since we need to, not since we wish to," Musk stated formerly.

Tesla will spend $375 million to construct the facility, according to filings with the Texas Comptroller. The refinery is Tesla's latest development into Texas, which started when the business relocated its head office to the state from California in 2021. The car manufacturer invested nearly $6 billion right into its Austin gigafactory last year. In January, Tesla stated it intended to spend an additional $770 million to expand the manufacturing facility to consist of cathode and drive unit production as well as a battery cell testing site.