Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to CTOnews.com news on October 7, Tesla's lithium refinery, once called a "printing press" by CEO Elon Musk, is now expected to be put into operation earlier than originally planned.

In September 2022, Tesla announced plans to build a lithium refining plant along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The goal of the new plant is to produce lithium hydroxide to support Tesla's battery unit production at the Texas superplant in Austin.

Tesla had previously confirmed plans to invest $365 million in the lithium plant, which will employ about 2.668 billion full-time employees and about 250 construction workers for about two years.

At the groundbreaking ceremony in May, Mr Musk, chief executive, said the plant would produce enough battery-grade lithium, more than the rest of the refineries in North America combined, to make about 1 million electric vehicles a year.

Tesla has previously said that the lithium refinery plans to complete construction next year and put into production by 2025.

However, according to Jason Bevan, senior manager of Tesla operations, at a job fair in Texas local media, Tesla lithium refinery now plans to start operation in the first half of 2024 and gradually increase production in the second half of the year. "We will start debugging the equipment at the beginning of next year, which will continue in the first half of next year and will gradually increase production in the second half of next year," he said. "

Bevan suggested that Tesla was already considering the future of the lithium refinery and its economic impact on employees and local communities. "apart from these two production lines, we have land that is very suitable for future expansion, so I think there are a lot of opportunities to further improve economic efficiency, not just the employees we hire directly," he said.

Lithium is an important raw material for lithium battery. Lithium concentrate becomes lithium salt after refining. At present, lithium salt products mainly include lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, the former is mainly used in lithium iron phosphate, lithium cobalt and some ternary lithium cathode materials, lithium hydroxide is mainly used in high nickel ternary cathode materials. When Tesla's lithium refinery is completed, it will reduce its external purchase of lithium hydroxide.

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