This is more advanced than you think Tesla’s Texas lithium refinery is the first in North America to convert raw spodumene ore directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, skipping the intermediate steps the rest of the industry relies on It went from groundbreaking to first production in just 19 months, an unheard-of timeline at this scale The process is cleaner too: no hazardous sodium sulfate waste, and a useful byproduct that can be turned into concrete This single refinery can supply lithium for over 500,000 EVs per year and directly challenges China’s ~60% grip on global lithium refining One of the biggest bottlenecks in the EV supply chain just got an upgrade.

XFreeze/X