ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
The electric car company Tesla has fired up a large lithium chemical plant in Texas. But despite efforts by Tesla and other firms to establish lithium facilities in the US, China will remain the world’s main source of lithium chemicals in the near term.
Tesla says the $1 billion plant near Corpus Christi, Texas, will eventually refine enough lithium for 50 GW h of batteries per year, likely enough for at least half a million cars. The company just started feeding raw materials into the factory and hopes to start producing lithium hydroxide in 2025. The facility will convert lithium-containing ore into chemicals using an acid-free process that avoids environmentally problematic waste products.
More than 60% of the world’s lithium chemicals are produced in China, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and World Economic Forum. Currently, the US only has a few, relatively small lithium chemical plants, operated by Albemarle and Arcadium Lithium. Tesla claims its facility will be the largest in North America.
Tesla’s project is part of a wider effort to increase lithium production in the US. Lithium Americas plans to start mining and refining lithium in Nevada by 2027. Stardust Power hopes to soon begin construction on a plant that will convert lithium chloride—pulled from brines by companies using direct lithium extraction—into lithium carbonate for battery use.
But the crash in lithium prices over the past year has stalled other US projects. Albemarle announced plans to build a large facility in the southeastern US in 2022, but it delayed the project earlier this year because of low lithium prices. Similarly, Piedmont Lithium was going to build lithium refineries in Tennessee and North Carolina but is now focusing just on North Carolina.
Tesla has agreed to buy lithium ore from mines operated by Sayona Mining in Quebec and Liontown Resources in Australia. Chris Berry, president of the battery industry consultancy House Mountain Partners, anticipates that Tesla will turn the lithium hydroxide the new plant produces into battery cathodes at a facility it’s constructing in Austin, Texas.
But achieving full-scale production with a new process and inexperienced operators won’t be easy, Berry says. He warns that the first year of production almost inevitably reveals unforeseen issues. “After the ribbon cutting is when the fun begins,” he says.
This story was updated on Dec. 24, 2024, to correct the name of a research firm. The firm's name is House Mountain Partners, not Mountain House Partners.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on X