Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott to break ground at the site of the electric vehicle maker’s new lithium refinery in Corpus Christi on Monday. Tesla plans to invest $375 million to build the facility on the Gulf coast that will help it secure a domestic supply of lithium hydroxide, a key ingredient used to make batteries for its electric vehicles, and its home- and utility-scale batteries.
Musk said that Tesla is aiming to produce enough battery-grade lithium at the refinery to manufacture one million vehicles per year, and to produce more lithium than the rest of North America’s refining capacity combined there.
Mining company Albemarle announced plans to invest $1.3 billion in a new lithium processing facility in South Carolina in March.
According to filings with the Texas Comptroller’s office, Tesla specifically 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.”
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