News
First look at Tesla’s lithium refinery in Texas
Drone imagery of the upcoming Tesla lithium refinery just outside Corpus Christi, Texas, shows the facility is already coming together.
With battery-grade lithium quickly becoming the supply bottleneck of the automotive industry, Tesla has decided to enter the market by establishing its own lithium refinery in Southern Texas. Now, ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony later today, the first drone images of the facility have already been posted online.
The drone images, initially posted to Twitter by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, show that Tesla has ironically already broken ground and is establishing a flat construction surface on which the project will be built.
Drone shots from the new Tesla Texas lithium refinery. Groundbreaking ceremony today. pic.twitter.com/RnNYyu6AqA
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) May 8, 2023
Earlier this morning, a surprising amount of information was released to the press by the local government, detailing many exciting aspects of the newest Tesla facility. Perhaps most revealing, a map showing the development of the land was leaked, showing just how expansive the project will be once constructed.
$TSLA to hold groundbreaking ceremony Monday at new Robstown refinery
Tesla CEO @elonmusk and Gov. Greg Abbott will speak at the ceremony. It comes about two months after Tesla broke ground on the $375 million lithium plant. pic.twitter.com/UwIOBFMIGw— Berlinergy (@Berlinergy) May 8, 2023
Tesla has now announced that the official groundbreaking ceremony, attended by Elon Musk and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, will be happening at 4 pm EST and live-streamed to Twitter, alongside other news broadcasts.
Looking at recent satellite imagery taken by the U.S. Geologic Survey, it seems as though construction has only begun within the past few weeks. Still, with Tesla well-known for constructing its facilities in record time, construction completion is expected to be near.

Surprisingly, despite the incredible amount of information made available this morning, including the facility’s $375 million price tag, only a few other details have been made public. Foremost, the facility will have a production capacity of 50GWh, and it has already begun hiring. Besides that, a specific production start date, the number of employees the facility will have, or even where raw lithium will be sourced from have yet to be announced.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
News
Ford considers drastic move with F-150 Lightning: ‘The demand is just not there’
Ford is considering a drastic move with its F-150 Lightning, which was the best-selling EV pickup on the market last quarter, beating out Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Ford has had a tumultuous entrance into its more expanded electric vehicle strategy over the past several years. At one point, the company was widely considered to be the most invested legacy automaker in the transition to electrification, but as the company has seen some real backtracking in terms of its sales and demand, it is cooling down its commitment.
At the end of Q3, it seemed to already be considering making some moves to cool off its EV ambitions, especially as the $7,500 EV tax credit was removed and it appeared that consumers would be less attracted to its vehicles without this sizeable discount.
Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Ford is considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning altogether, as one employee said “the demand is just not there.”
Despite it being the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S. last quarter, the sales simply do not match up with the pricing, and financially, it is not the time to try to dive further into a project that is not making a profit. Ford has been dwindling in its commitment to EVs over the past several quarters, and its profits are reflecting a slowing interest in its electric vehicles.
Simply put, Ford’s combustion engine lineup of pickups in the F-Series is, by far, the best-selling division of trucks globally. Ford brought an awesome product forth with the Lightning, a mirror of the gas-powered F-Series that had a variety of trim levels for whatever the truck would be used for by the consumer.
However, the demand and sales have caused Ford to take a loss on its electric truck: figures from early last year indicated it was losing between $100,000 and $132,000 per vehicle.
It is not an official announcement, as Ford has not publicly said anything regarding its plans for the Lightning at this time.
Elon Musk
Tesla schedules Roadster unveiling event, and you won’t believe when it is
Tesla has tentatively scheduled its unveiling event for the Roadster’s next-generation iteration, and you will not believe the date the company picked for it.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting that the company is aiming for an April 1 demo event.
Yes, April Fools’ Day.
🚨 Tesla’s unveiling event for the Roadster Gen 2 is scheduled for April 1, 2026.
Yes, April Fools’ Day. pic.twitter.com/sw09GUYFPV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 6, 2025
Tesla originally aimed for its “most epic demo” to take place at the end of this year. However, the writing on the wall as 2025 winds down seemed to indicate the company was not quite ready to show off everything it plans to implement into the Roadster.
Its capabilities have been teased quite heavily throughout most of the year, but the biggest hints came last week when Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
He said:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”
The Roadster has been somewhat of a letdown, at least in its newest version, thus far. Tesla has routinely delayed the project, putting those who put lofty down payments on the car in a weird limbo, lost at what to do.
One notable pre-orderer cancelled his reservation last week and got in a spat with Musk about it.
Now that there is a definitive date for the Roadster unveiling, Musk and Co. should have a more definitive cutoff date for features and capabilities. Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen said earlier this year that when they showed Musk what they had done with the Roadster, the CEO encouraged them to do even more with it.
This delayed things further.
Musk also said he believes production would begin between 12 and 18 months after the unveiling, putting it out sometime in 2027.
Elon Musk
Tesla (TSLA) shareholders officially approve Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award
To earn his landmark pay package, Musk would be required to lift Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has officially approved his 2025 Performance Award, a landmark pay package that could make him the world’s first trillionaire and make Tesla the most valuable company in the world by a mile.
The 2025 CEO Performance Award was officially approved by Tesla shareholders at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting.
Elon Musk‘s landmark pay package
As per Tesla, more than 75% of the shareholders approved Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award. It was then unsurprising that the approval of Elon Musk’s pay plan received overwhelming applause from the event’s attendees.
The CEO took to the stage with much enthusiasm, welcoming every shareholder to the event and dancing briefly on stage. Optimus also danced on stage smoothly, demonstrating its improved movements to much appause.
Elon Musk’s 10-year targets
To earn his 2025 CEO Performance Award, Musk would be required to grow Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade. At that level, Tesla would surpass every major public company in existence. The compensation plan also requires Tesla’s operating profit to grow from $17 billion last year to $400 billion annually.
Apart from leading Tesla to become the world’s biggest company in history, Musk is also required to hit several product targets for the electric vehicle maker. These include the delivery of 20 million Tesla vehicles cumulatively, 10 million active FSD subscriptions, 1 million Tesla bots delivered, and 1 million Robotaxis in operation.
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