Tesla has officially begun construction of a lithium plant in Texas, becoming the only US automaker to process its own lithium. This was reported by TechCrunch.

According to the CEO of the company, Elon Musk, by 2025, the plant will produce enough lithium for batteries for 1 million electric cars. That would make Tesla the largest lithium producer in North America. However, the automaker will continue to rely on existing suppliers such as Albermarle and Livent as it aims to reach its goal of selling around 1.8 million vehicles worldwide by 2023.

“As we look ahead a few years, a fundamental choke point in the advancement of electric vehicles is the availability of battery grade lithium,” said Elon Musk.

According to him, the construction of the plant is planned to be finished next year, and full-scale production will start in 2025. The Tesla CEO considers such terms extremely fast by normal standards. With all that, the company had previously intended to complete the construction of the enterprise by the end of this year in order to start production at the beginning of next year.

As you know, lithium is a key critical material for the lithium-ion batteries that power the electric vehicle revolution. Today, the US produces only 1% of the world’s lithium. The leaders of this industry are Australia, Chile and China.