The Tesla construction project broke ground in May 2023 and numerous construction activities have taken place over the summer. (X/Joe Tegtmeyer photo)

Tesla officially broke ground at its new Lithium Refinery outside Corpus Christie, Texas, in May. Since then, there have been a number of construction activities under way at the facility.

The site has grown in width and depth. Trenching and vertical assembly is taking place.

Tesla is investing $375 million to build the facility on the Gulf Coast that will help it secure a domestic supply of lithium hydroxide, a key ingredient used to make batteries for its electric vehicles, and its home- and utility-scale batteries.

The automaker plans to produce enough battery-grade lithium at the new factory to support the production of 1 million electric cars annually.

The site will deploy for the first time ever at scale an acid-free lithium refining process which "eliminates the use of hazardous reagents and byproducts in favor of more inert options," the company added.

Full production at the site is expected to be achieved by 2025, Tesla said.

Tesla stated that the plant will later employ 250 people full-time and nearly 1,000 jobs will be created for construction. The 250 full-time employees, including production technicians, plant managers and engineers, are to be partly trained and recruited locally. To this end, Tesla is investing in several educational projects in the region.

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