Tesla has formally began operations at its new lithium refining manufacturing unit in Texas, coming over a yr after the corporate first broke floor on the positioning.
On Saturday, the Tesla North America account on X introduced that, for the primary time, the staff fed uncooked supplies by way of the kiln of its Robstown lithium refinery. The positioning, positioned exterior of Corpus Christi, is the primary large-scale refinery for battery-grade lithium within the U.S., and the primary industrial deployment of an acid-free lithium refining route, as detailed by Tesla in its authentic announcement for the undertaking.
“This funding is important to our mission to speed up the world’s transition to sustainable vitality and represents our efforts to aggressively enhance the availability of battery-grade lithium hydroxide accessible in North America,” the corporate writes.
Upon reaching quantity manufacturing, the lithium refinery is predicted to supply round 50 GWh of battery-grade lithium yearly.
Credit score: Tesla North America | X
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Some additionally seen that there was a Tesla Cybercab within the background of the image posted alongside the announcement, following the corporate’s official unveiling of the two-seat robotaxi in October.
Tesla is at the moment hiring on the Robstown, Texas facility, and you’ll find the corporate’s open job listings on its careers web page.
Tesla broke floor on the lithium refining facility final Might, although the corporate has been making regular progress on development all through a lot of this yr. The positioning was initially aiming to start out manufacturing in Q1 this yr, with development valued at roughly $375 million.
The information additionally comes because the U.S. and different North American and European markets intention to lower reliance on China for the processing of minerals for electrical automobile (EV) batteries. Whereas plans for extra lithium refineries are underway within the U.S., and there are a handful of energetic and deliberate lithium mining websites, this manufacturing unit represents an necessary step towards making home manufacturing of EV batteries a actuality.
In accordance with an October report from Reuters, China makes up round two-thirds of the world’s lithium chemical output, as is utilized in batteries for EVs, in addition to telephones, computer systems, and plenty of different client electronics.
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