Tesla builds new lithium lab in Nevada to support battery supply chain
News on May 3, Tesla is a company known for making cars, but its ambitions don’t stop there. Recently, according to a building permit obtained by the Electrek website, Tesla is building a new “lithium laboratory” in Sparks, Nevada.
This laboratory is not located in Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory, but in a place not far from Reno.
Tesla said in its license application that the purpose of the lab is to conduct “manufacturing research and development (lithium lab)” and that some upgrades will be made to the existing facility to support tooling installation and process optimization.
Why did Tesla build such a laboratory? This is related to the company’s ambitions in the battery field.
Tesla made it clear at its recent investor day that its goal is to increase production capacity by a factor of 10 by the end of the decade. To achieve this goal, Tesla will have to become more deeply involved in the battery supply chain.
We know that lithium is one of the important raw materials for batteries, but the current supply of lithium in the market is not sufficient. Therefore, Tesla is trying to solve this problem in several ways.
For one thing, the company is building a new lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, that will use a new processing technology to turn lithium into battery-grade lithium hydroxide. On the other hand.
Tesla also plans to mine lithium mines in Nevada and use a new technology to extract lithium. However, since the first announcement of this plan in 2020, Tesla has not released more relevant information.
It is unclear what role the new lithium lab will play in these projects, perhaps to test and improve technologies for lithium mining and processing, or to research and develop more efficient and environmentally friendly lithium batteries. In any case, this shows Tesla’s emphasis on and investment in the battery supply chain.
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