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Tesla lithium supplier Livent Corp. considers Canadian expansion

Credit: Kyle Pearce [CC BY-SA 2.0]

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Livent Corp., a Pennsylvania-based Tesla lithium supplier, is considering expanding production in Canada.

As electric vehicles have grown in popularity worldwide, the demand for lithium, which is found in electric vehicle batteries, has skyrocketed. One company supplying the likes of Tesla, General Motors, and BMW is Livent Corp. The company is considering expanding into Canada, where it has already invested in a substantial lithium mine in Quebec.

According to Reuters, Livent Corp. is considering expanding into Canada after the company invested in a massive joint venture mine in Quebec. The Nemaska Lithium Project in Quebec is set to open in 2025 and could produce as much as 100,000 tons of lithium annually. Livent Corp. clarified that this is far from the only project the company is currently looking at in the country. Furthermore, lithium produced at these locations would require refineries nearby to process the material after being dug up.

No other details were released about Livent Corp.’s possible Canadian expansion. However, in a comment to Reuters, Livent CEO Paul Graves said, “We see Canada as a core part of our expansion capacity,” and further explained that “We have to get bigger. We can’t just sit still.”

Livent Corp. is looking to capitalize on North America’s ever-growing battery manufacturing sector. Still, they will need to move quickly to capitalize on lithium reserves on the continent. According to the U.S. Geologic Survey, the U.S. only has approximately 20 locations containing more than 15,000 tons of lithium. And while the Canadian Government doesn’t specify its lithium reserves, the country has just over 20 mines in operation but has produced very little of the material over the past five years.

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What Livent Corp. does not address in their comments to Reuters is the possibility of supplying a Tesla location in Canada. Outside of the U.S., auto manufacturing in North America has primarily been drawn to Mexico. However, if recent news is to be believed, a Tesla facility could be aided in being located close to lithium reserves and refineries in Canada.

It remains unclear how global markets will react to lithium production slowly becoming centralized within the Americas. But there is no doubt that Canada will be an integral part of a future in desperate need of lithium and other rare earth materials.

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!

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Tesla Sweden faces fresh union blockade at key Gothenburg paint shop

Allround Lack works with painting and damage repair of passenger cars, including Teslas.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s ongoing labor conflict in Sweden escalated again as the trade union IF Metall issued a new blockade halting all Tesla paintwork at Allround Lack in Gothenburg. 

Allround Lack works with painting and damage repair of passenger cars, including Teslas. It currently employs about 20 employees. 

Yet another blockade against Tesla Sweden

IF Metall’s latest notice ordered a full work stoppage for all Tesla-related activity at Allround Lack. With the blockade in place, paint jobs on Tesla-owned vehicles, factory-warranty repairs, and transport-damage fixes, will be effectively frozen, as noted in a report from Dagens Arbete. While Allround Lack is a small paint shop, its work with Tesla means that the blockade would add challenges to the company’s operations in Sweden, at least to some degree.

Paint shop blockades have been a recurring tool in the longstanding conflict. The first appeared in late 2023, when repair shops were barred from servicing Tesla vehicles. Days later, the Painters’ Union implemented a nationwide halt on Tesla paint work across more than 100 shops. Since then, a steady stream of workshops has been pulled into the conflict.

Earlier blockades faced backlash from consumers

The sweeping effects of the early blockades drew criticism from industry groups and consumers. Employers and industry organization Transportföretagen stated that the strikes harmed numerous workshops across Sweden, with about 10 of its members losing about 50% of their revenue.

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Private owners also expressed their objections. Tibor Blomhäll, chairman of Tesla Club Sweden, told DA in a previous statement that the blockades from IF Metall gave the impression that the union was specifically attacking consumers. “If I get parking damage to my car, I pay for the paint myself. The company Tesla is not involved in that deal at all. So many people felt singled out, almost stigmatized. What have I done as a private individual to get a union against me?” Blomhäll stated. 

In response to these complaints, IF Metall introduced exemptions, allowing severely damaged vehicles to be repaired. The union later reopened access for private owners at workshops with collective agreements. The blockades at the workshops were also reformulated to only apply to work that is “ordered by Tesla on Tesla’s own cars, as well as work covered by factory warranties and transport damage on Tesla cars.”

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Tesla breaks Norway’s all-time annual sales record with one month to spare

With November alone delivering 4,260 new registrations, Tesla has cemented its most dominant year ever in one of Europe’s most mature EV markets.

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla shattered Norway’s decade-old annual sales record this month, overtaking Volkswagen’s long-standing milestone with over one month still left in the year. Backed by surging demand ahead of Norway’s upcoming VAT changes, Tesla has already registered 26,666 vehicles year-to-date, surpassing Volkswagen’s 2016 record of 26,572 units. 

With November alone delivering 4,260 new registrations month-to-date, Tesla has cemented its most dominant year ever in one of Europe’s most mature EV markets.

Model Y drives historic surge in Norway

Tesla’s impressive momentum has been led overwhelmingly by the Model Y, which accounted for 21,517 of Norway’s registrations this year, as noted in a CarUp report, citing data from Elbil Statistik. The Model 3 followed with 5,087 units, while the Model S and Model X contributed 30 and 19 vehicles, respectively. Even the parallel-imported Cybertruck made the charts with 13 registrations.

Demand intensified sharply through autumn as Norwegian buyers rushed to secure deliveries before the country’s VAT changes take effect in January. The new regulation is expected to add roughly NOK 50,000 to the price of a Model Y, prompting a wave of early purchases that helped lift Tesla beyond the previous all-time record well before year-end. 

With December still ahead, Tesla is positioned to extend its historic lead further. Needless to say, it appears that Norway will prove to be one of Tesla’s strongest markets in Europe. 

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FSD could be a notable demand driver in 2026

What’s especially interesting about Tesla’s feat in Norway is that the company’s biggest selling point today, Full Self-Driving (Supervised), is not yet available there. Tesla, however, recently noted in a post on X that the Dutch regulator RDW has reportedly committed to issuing a Netherlands national approval for FSD (Supervised) in February 2026

The RDW posted a response to Tesla’s post, clarifying the February 2026 target but stating that FSD’s approval is not assured yet. “The RDW has drawn up a schedule with Tesla in which Tesla is expected to be able to demonstrate that FSD Supervised meets the requirements in February 2026. RDW and Tesla know what efforts need to be made to make a decision on this in February. Whether the schedule will be met remains to be seen in the coming period,” the RDW wrote in a post on its official wesbite.

If FSD (Supervised) does get approved next year, Tesla’s vehicles could gain a notable advantage over competitors, as they would be the only vehicles on the market capable of driving themselves on both inner-city streets and highways with practically no driver input. 

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2’s best new feature is not what you think

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 rolled out late last week to Early Access Program (EAP) members, but its best feature is not what you think.

While Tesla has done a great job of refining the performance of the Full Self-Driving suite with the latest update, there are some other interesting additions, including one that many owners have requested for some time.

Upon the release of v14.2, many owners recognized the Blue Dot next to the Autopilot tab in Vehicle Settings, notifying them of a new feature. What was included as a new feature in the new update was a Full Self-Driving stats feature, which now will show you how many miles you’ve traveled in total, and how many of those miles were driven using FSD:

The feature seems to be more of a bragging rights thing than anything, but it will also give drivers a good idea of how many miles they are using Full Self-Driving for. Those who use telematics-based insurance services will also be able to run experiments of their own, and could determine whether their premiums are impacted by the use of Full Self-Driving, and whether it is more advantageous to use over manual driving.

Tesla rolled out numerous other improvements with Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2, most notably, the company seems to have resolved previous complaints about brake stabbing and hesitation. This was a major complaint in v14.1, but Tesla has seemed to resolve it with this newest branch of the FSD suite.

There were also improvements in overall operation, and it was notably smoother than past versions. Speed Profiles are seemingly refined as well, as they seem much more fixed on how fast they will travel and how aggressive they will be with things like passing cars on freeways and lane changes.

In future updates, Tesla plans to add Parking Spot selection, along with overall operational improvements. However, CEO Elon Musk recently said that the next branch, Full Self-Driving v14.3, will be where the “final piece of the puzzle is placed.” Tesla believes it is close to solving autonomy, so v14.3 could be a major jump forward, but it remains to be seen.

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