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Tesla is building a lithium hydroxide refinery in Texas for its Cybertruck factory
A recent report from market intelligence publisher Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has revealed that Tesla is poised to build a lithium hydroxide chemical plant in Texas. The lithium hydroxide refinery will reportedly be situated in Texas, and it will be used to feed the upcoming Cybertruck Gigafactory.
The spodumene conversion facility will be built adjacent to Gigafactory Texas, and based on Benchmark Minerals’ report, the facility has a target date of Q4 2022 for its start of operations. This is a notably aggressive timeframe for such a facility, though it is something distinctly Tesla. Ultimately, the lithium hydroxide refinery will add to Tesla’s plans to set up a cathode facility in Texas, which Elon Musk has described as part of the electric car maker’s cell production plan.
The upcoming conversion/refining plant will turn hard rock spodumene ore into lithium hydroxide, which is used directly in battery cells. It should be noted that prior to Tesla’s battery efforts, this process has traditionally been performed in China using spodumene that’s sourced from Australia. In its report, Benchmark Minerals noted that Tesla will be using a hydrometallurgical process to turn its spodumene ore into lithium hydroxide, effectively eliminating the use of sulphuric acid. This process, however, remains untested in the commercial scale.
Interestingly enough, a recent announcement from Australian mining firm Piedmont Lithium has revealed that Tesla has signed a five-year deal to acquire spodumene from a mine in North Carolina. In its press release, Piedmont noted that its Tesla deal represents about one-third of the expected 160,000 tonnes per annum that’s expected to be produced at its North Carolina mine. This deal will likely supply Tesla with 8,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide a year, starting between July 2022 and July 2023.
In its report, Benchmark stated that the Piedmont Lithium deal will likely account for just over half of Tesla’s battery needs for Gigafactory Texas in 2023, the first estimated full production year of the electric car maker’s 4680 cells. With this in mind, Tesla would still need to secure more spodumene supply beyond Piedmont Lithium’s capabilities, especially if the company intends to fully ramp its battery cell production capabilities. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Managing Director Simon Moores, for his part, highlighted the significance of Tesla’s battery production push.
“Lithium’s foundations for the 21st century are beginning to shift in what is a China-dominated part of the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle supply chain. Tesla is the first automotive OEM to enter lithium production – a watershed moment. And it does so without having to mine lithium from the ground. Not only will it allow Tesla to control costs at this supply chain step, it will once again see the spodumene trade flows point towards the USA instead of China, a market that has dominated spodumene conversion for a generation through majors such as Tianqi and Ganfeng Lithium.

“It will also significantly bolster its negotiating power on its future lithium hydroxide contracts once it harnesses the ability to produce a consistent battery ready lithium hydroxide and scales capacity. Tesla has clearly come to the realization that it cannot rely on the upstream of the supply chain or investors to expand quickly enough for its needs. It has now taken some of that responsibility away from the miners and chemical producers and once Tesla gets to grips with the lithium refining process, scale will be introduced and we expect that post-2022 ramp to be rapid,” he said.
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Product Director Andrew Miller added that Tesla’s lithium hydroxide chemical plant in Texas will allow the electric car maker to closely monitor the cost and quality of its batteries’ components. Miller added that Tesla’s efforts to move upstream in the battery supply chain will likely be replicated by other carmakers in the future.
“With Tesla entering the upstream of the lithium-ion battery supply chain at the conversion stage the company does not have to become a lithium miner, a skill-set and company culture that is entirely different to creating chemically refined materials. Controlling the lithium conversion from the raw material – spodumene concentrate – means they can not only reduce the cost but also control the quality of the lithium hydroxide output more closely.
“This is additional evidence that lithium will remain a specialty chemical that is tied to and tailored for the needs of the end-users, rather than a commodity. In addition, Tesla’s efforts to move upstream will likely be replicated by other auto manufacturers, and in other areas of the supply chain. Having control of advanced material costs into the EV supply chain is an increasingly important factor in lowering battery prices,” he said.
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s report on Tesla’s lithium hydroxide refinery could be accessed here.
News
Tesla launches new color from Gigafactory Berlin

Tesla has launched a new color at Gigafactory Berlin in Germany, home of the company’s “world-class paint shop,” as Elon Musk once called it.
Bringing a new color to Tesla’s Model Y, there are now five available colors for those who will receive a vehicle from Gigafactory Berlin, with four of them being colors offered in other markets.
However, there is now one distinct color that is only available in Germany: Marine Blue.
🚨 Tesla has launched “Marine Blue” in select European countries
It is the third shade of blue Giga Berlin produces. It costs $1,500 pic.twitter.com/pVDWdNeBSJ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 10, 2025
Priced at €1,300, Marine Blue will cost the same as both Diamond Black and Stealth Grey, while Quicksilver and Ultra Red are available for double the price.
It is the third shade of blue Tesla offers across its lineup, as Deep Metallic Blue and Glacier Blue are also offered, but in other markets.
Tesla has routinely flexed Giga Berlin for having the most advanced paint shop throughout its factories, and it has produced some interesting colors over the past few years, some of which were truly awesome.
Tesla Giga Berlin is getting a world-class paint shop, new color ‘layers’ to come
In 2020, Musk said, “Giga Berlin will have the world’s most advanced paint shop, with more layers of stunning colors that subtly change with curvature.”
He also detailed the company’s plans to upgrade the Fremont and Shanghai paint shops. Gigafactory Texas was not yet unveiled. Tesla has worked to improve those facilities, especially in Fremont.
It was able to roll out the new Diamond Black color earlier this year.
However, Giga Berlin seems to remain the standard in terms of paint for Tesla. It routinely offers new colors.
For example, back in 2022, Tesla rolled out its familiar Quicksilver color for the Model Y, while also introducing Midnight Cherry Red, a color close to burgundy. However, the company chose to discontinue the color after determining internally that customers no longer wanted to buy it.
Midnight Cherry Red was removed as an option earlier this year, likely to make way for the development of the new Marine Blue.
News
Tesla Autopilot visualization gets big upgrade with tons of new additions
The AP visualization shows up on the center touchscreen and illustrates the surroundings of the cars. It has gotten better in recent years, as it is able to outline types of vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and more.

Tesla’s Autopilot visualization just got a big upgrade as the company added tons of new additions to what it will be able to render in terms of a vehicle’s surroundings.
The AP visualization shows up on the center touchscreen and illustrates the surroundings of the cars. It has gotten better in recent years, as it is able to outline types of vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and more.
Tesla just fixed a four-year-old bug with Full Self-Driving visualization
However, it still does not have every single application, and acquiring them will take some time. If an object or vehicle is visible to the vehicle but an accurate render is not available, the car will instead pick whatever is closest.
For example, I passed an Amish family yesterday in Lancaster, PA, and instead of illustrating the horse and carriage, it simply showed a small box truck.
In an effort to make the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving suites more robust and accurate, Tesla has added a substantial amount of vehicle renders, which will become available in the coming weeks.
The visualizations were found by Tesla hacker @greentheonly, who posted them on X.
The new visualization renders are:
- Ambulance
- Firetruck
- Garbage Truck
- Schoolbus
- European Semi Truck
- Golf Cart
- Person on a Scooter
- Person on a Skateboard
- Stroller
- Street Sweeper
- Three-Wheeler
- Trailer
- Train
- Tram
- Person in a Wheelchair
Here is an image with all of the Autopilot visualization renders:

Credit: Green
The visualization is a crucial part of manual operation and can be considered a distinct advantage that Tesla has over other companies.
It continues to be an effort that Tesla invests heavily in, as it keeps refining the suite and making it more robust with additional visualizations and animations.
Recently, it was revealed that Tesla is planning to utilize Unreal Engine for driver visualization to create a realistic depiction of the vehicle’s environment. Tesla has not yet confirmed this, but coding found with the Model S and Model X showed it could be coming in the near future.
News
Tesla dominates best-selling EVs in Q3, but there’s one disappointment

Tesla dominated the sales figures for electric vehicles in the third quarter in the United States, but there was one disappointment: the Cybertruck.
As a whole, the EV industry benefitted from the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit in Q3, which was something many expected. As the credit expired, consumers rushed to showrooms to take the credit and remove $7,500 from the purchase price of their new vehicle.
Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might
It was a very interesting time for many companies as they scrambled to figure out how to push as many vehicles out the door as they could in preparation for the tax credit’s removal. In typical fashion, Tesla was able to top every manufacturer and secure a dominating portion of the overall market in Q3.
However, some other OEMs pulled out some surprises, including Chevrolet, Honda, and Ford, which managed to get two vehicles in the top 10, as many as Tesla.
Cox Automotive compiled the data in its Q3 Electric Vehicle Sales Report:
- Tesla Model Y – 114,897
- Tesla Model 3 – 53,857
- Chevrolet Equinox EV – 25,085
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 21,999
- Honda Prologue – 20,236
- Ford Mustang Mach-E – 20,177
- Volkswagen ID.4 – 12,470
- Audi Q6 e-tron – 10,299
- Ford F-150 Lightning – 10,005
- Rivian R1S – 8,184
10.5 percent of the automotive sales in the U.S. in Q3 were electric, a new record that surpasses that of Q3 2024, where the total share of sales for EVs was 8.6 percent.
Now, the disappointment that is evident from this list is the fact that there is no Tesla Cybertruck listed. That’s because it was the second-best-selling EV pickup on the market. The company sold 5,385 Cybertruck units in Q3.
The Cybertruck has been a vehicle that has confused many Tesla fans and owners, especially considering the company had such stratospheric expectations for the vehicle while it was in development. Reservation trackers had the truck sitting between one million and two million orders, but it has not lived up to that.
Pricing is the main issue with Cybertruck. Tesla introduced the pickup with Single, Dual, and Tri-motor configurations, priced at $39,990, $49,990, and $69,990. Those price points are simply a thing of the past.
🚨 Tesla Cybertruck was the second-best-selling EV pickup in Q3, Cox Automotive data shows.
It was only outsold by the Ford F-150 Lightning, which sold 10,005 units for the quarter.
Cybertruck had 5,385 sales. pic.twitter.com/Q2gnUbF6bk
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 13, 2025
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