Self-built lithium refinery, self-developed 4680 battery, Tesla’s pure “American blood” Cybertruck rolls off the assembly line

Abstract:

Or Trump likes Musk, because he really supports his decision with full support!

Recently, Tesla officially announced an important supply chain milestone, saying that the first Cybertruck using lithium raw materials produced by the Texas Gulf of Mexico lithium refinery has officially rolled off the assembly line at the Texas Gigafactory. Musk forwarded the official announcement with the text "Lithium made in America"

This Cybertruck is equipped with Tesla’s self-developed 4680 battery. The battery-grade lithium hydroxide inside the battery cell comes from Tesla’s self-built Gulf Coast lithium refinery.

This factory in Robstown, Texas, will start construction in 2023 and be officially put into production in early 2026. It will adopt a low-acid and environmentally friendly process.

The spodumene concentrate will be processed into lithium hydroxide for batteries and supplied to the 4680 battery cell production line of the Austin factory nearby. After the battery cells are packaged, they will be directly assembled onto the Cybertruck vehicle produced in the same factory, realizing a closed-loop industrial chain in which lithium refining, battery production and vehicle manufacturing are all completed in Texas, USA

Prior to this, most of Tesla’s battery lithium raw materials were refined by overseas factories. This is also the first time that Tesla has put self-refined lithium into mass-produced finished cars.

At this stage, only the first prototype has been rolled off the production line. Tesla has not announced a timetable for large-scale switching, nor has it revealed the specific nodes at which it will expand this set of locally refined lithium to other 4680 models such as Model Y.

In the past, lithium prices have fluctuated significantly, and overseas supply chains have fluctuated, which has restricted Tesla's costs and production capacity for a long time. Building a local refining production line can, on the one hand, reduce dependence on overseas lithium refining companies and improve the supply chain's risk resistance; on the other hand, it also meets the requirements of the North American new energy subsidy policy for local materials, which will help vehicles receive more policy subsidies