Tesla Extends Lithium Hydroxide Supply Agreement with Livent Through 2021, Considers Longer Partnership

Featured image: Wikimedia/Luca Galuzzi

During Tesla Battery Day, CEO Elon Musk unveiled plans to create huge volumes of battery packs that will be enough to produce about 30 million electric vehicles annually by the end of 2030. Lithium is one of the main elements for making batteries, which means the company will need large quantities of it.

Currently, the world produces about 400,000 tons of lithium per year, which is enough for use in 2 to 3 million electric vehicles. To achieve Musk's goal, this number will have to be increased significantly.

Despite the fact that Tesla announced the purchase of a site for its own production of lithium, the company will continue to use the metal from other suppliers, at least until its plans for Tesla's own production are realized.

Battery Day: Tesla Is Getting Into The Lithium Mining Businesshttps://t.co/RMqeZwrCef

— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) September 23, 2020

On Thursday, Livent, one of the lithium providers released Q3 2020 Results. Among other things, the miner announced that it had extended the multi-year agreement with Tesla until 2021. In addition, Livent is committed to increasing its supplies in 2020. Furthermore, the company said it continues to discuss the possibility of partnering with Tesla beyond 2021.

"Livent extended its multi-year lithium hydroxide supply agreement with Tesla through 2021, with a commitment for higher volumes than in 2020. Livent continues to discuss the framework for a long-term supply partnership with Tesla beyond 2021."

At the end of September, Piedmont Lithium announced that it had signed a five-year contract with Tesla to supply high-purity lithium. The agreement is for an initial five-year term and may be extended by mutual agreement for a second five-year term.

The Agreement covers a fixed commitment representing approximately one-third of Piedmont's planned SC6 production of 160,000 tonnes per annum for the initial five-year term, as well as an additional quantity to be delivered at Tesla's option. 160,000 tonnes is only enough to produce 400,000-600,000 batteries, which is clearly not enough to meet Tesla's needs. As such, it is not surprising that the company will continue to search for lithium miners that meet Tesla's requirements.

© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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