Tesla brings lithium plant to Texas | LinkedIn (2024)

FAQs

Tesla brings lithium plant to Texas | LinkedIn? ›

Tesla has broken ground on a much-anticipated lithium refinery in Texas. The automaker will pour US$375 million into the plant near Corpus Christi as it aims to produce lithium, crucial for its electric vehicle batteries

Tesla is helping turn Texas into a hub for battery cell production from source material processing to cell production. On top of the 4680 cell production at Gigafactory Texas, Tesla is also building its lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.

At the end of 2021, Tesla inked a fresh three year lithium supply deal with top lithium producer Ganfeng Lithium (OTC Pink:GNENF,SZSE:002460). The Chinese company will provide products to Tesla for three years starting in 2022.

What company makes Tesla's batteries? Tesla is currently working with Japanese company Panasonic, its longtime partner, as well as South Korea's LG Energy Solutions, the second largest battery supplier in the world. They supply the EV maker with cells containing nickel and cobalt.

Tesla in 2022 signed a five-year lithium-supply deal with Australia's Liontown Resources (LTR.AX) , opens new tab to buy 100,000 dry metric tonnes (DMT) of the concentrate in the first year starting 2024, increasing to 150,000 DMT per year in subsequent years.

In 2021, Musk moved Tesla headquarters to the Austin, Texas area as the result of two things: the completion of the Austin Gigafactory and rising tensions with California lawmakers.

Musk has more than a small interest in Texas. He shifted Tesla's corporate headquarters to the state from California in 2021 after criticizing California's regulations and taxes, and clashing with health officials at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic over reopening a factory in Fremont.

Though emissions deriving from mining these two elements are lower than those deriving from fossil fuels production, the extraction methods for lithium and cobalt can be very energy intensive – leading to air and water pollution, land degradation, and potential for groundwater contamination.

North Carolina-based Albemarle is not only the largest lithium company by market cap, but also the top lithium producer in the world with over 7,000 employees globally.

Is mining lithium bad for the environment? ›

The process of extracting lithium consumes significant amounts of water and energy, and lithium mining can pollute the air and water with chemicals and heavy metals. In addition, mining lithium can disrupt wildlife habitats and cause soil erosion, leading to long-term ecological damage.

Tesla do not, in fact, own the battery when they sell you the car today or ever in the past.

Tesla does not rely on a single supplier for lithium; instead, it diversifies its sources. At the end of 2021, Tesla signed a three-year lithium supply agreement with Ganfeng Lithium, a leading lithium producer based in China.

The current cost of a battery is around $160/kWh, so with the different battery sizes in various Tesla models the price for the battery works out roughly as below: Model 3: 60 kWh (around $9,600) Model Y: 75 kWh (around $12,000) Model X :100 kWh (around $16,000)

“I would like to, once again, urge entrepreneurs to enter the lithium refining business. The mining is relatively easy. The refining is much harder,” said Musk on Tesla's second-quarter earnings call in July 2022. “It is basically like minting money right now.”

Tesla's new space in Hutto is in an industrial building formerly occupied by The JRS Company, a plastics manufacturing business, according to the city of Hutto. Tesla's plans for Hutto represent another win for the East Williamson County area, Bailey added.

Tesla broke ground on the Robstown, Texas lithium refinery in May, after the company shared plans for the plant during its Investor Day event last March. The refinery is eventually expected to produce 50 GWh of battery-grade lithium per year.