Tesla held a groundbreaking ceremony for its lithium refinery, which was attended by the governor of Texas, USA. Tesla is investing $375 million in it and expects to produce lithium for about 1 million electric vehicles per year.
Tesla held a groundbreaking ceremony for its lithium refinery
On Monday afternoon, Tesla held a groundbreaking ceremony for its lithium refinery. It will be located at Robstown near Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other company executives joined in, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other local, state, and federal leaders cheering the facility’s founding.
Tesla is establishing a supply chain for the production of batteries
Tesla plans to invest $375 million to build the facility. It will help secure domestic supplies of lithium hydroxide. Lithium is a key component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. In addition, the metal is used in the production of Powerwall and Megapack.
Musk said that at this facility, Tesla aims to produce enough lithium to make one million cars a year. This means the facility will produce more lithium than the rest of North America’s refineries combined.
Tesla will use an environmentally friendly lithium mining process
According to earlier filings with the Texas Comptroller’s office, Tesla plans to construct a “battery-grade lithium hydroxide refining facility,” and other “facilities to support other types of battery materials processing, refining and manufacturing and ancillary manufacturing operations in support of Tesla’s sustainable product line.” The company promised that “the Tesla process will use is innovative and designed to consume less hazardous reagents and create usable byproducts compared to the conventional process.”
During the ceremony, Musk also confirmed what was stated in the documents, reassuring local residents. “There’s no toxic emissions or anything — you could live right in the middle of the refinery and not suffer any ill effects,” he said.
Tesla will not use hydrochloric acid, which is a dangerous air pollutant, to mine lithium. In addition, Tesla’s battery raw material and recycling leader, Turner Caldwell, said the company will find opportunities to put the lithium by-product to good use. The company expects that it will consist mainly of sand and limestone. Tesla said:
« This facility will also prioritize the elimination of a challenging refinery byproduct (sodium sulfate).
Instead, the byproduct is a mixture of sand & calcium carbonate—a viable additive in the production of construction materials, allowing us to make use of this waste stream.
In the future, we will also process other intermediate lithium feedstocks, including those from recycled batteries & manufacturing scrap. »
Texas governor praises Elon Musk
Governor Abbott expressed great satisfaction that Musk chose Texas to host another Tesla facility. He expressed great gratitude for the trust. In addition to Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and the Neuralink representative offices are already here. Musk has moved almost all of his companies to Texas over the past five years.
Abbott named Elon Musk the greatest entrepreneur on Earth. He said the people of the state are proud Musk calls Texas home. The governor is delighted he is developing business in such a way that he can rely only on himself.
“Texas wants to be able to be self-reliant, not dependent upon any foreign hostile nation for what we need,” said Abbott.
