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Tesla and Piedmont Lithium amend SC6 supply with multi-year deal

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Tesla and Piedmont Lithium amended their supply deal for spodumene concentrate (SC6) through the end of 2025. SC6 is a high-purity lithium ore that is used to produce as a raw material and used for lithium-ion battery production.

Tesla and Piedmont mutually agreed to amend the agreement, which was first signed in 2020, with new terms that are binding for three more years. Piedmont will deliver roughly 125,000 metric tons of SC6 to Tesla starting in the second half of this year. The deal will continue through the end of 2025.

SC6 has a high lithium content and was at one time the primary source of lithium production. However, most companies extract lithium from brines due to cost-effectiveness, Feeco said. In the past several years, as EV demand has risen, lithium has been in high demand, and companies are using more techniques to extract the material for use in EV applications.

Keith Phillips, CEO of Piedmont Lithium, reiterated this point recently in an interview. Phillips said current lithium production is not enough to feed current demand levels.

“Not by 2030 or 35. The answer is yes, we’ll have enough but not by that time, I don’t think.”

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“We are pleased to be able to partner with Tesla to supply lithium resources produced in North America,” Phillips said about the amended deal with Tesla. “The electric vehicle and critical battery materials landscape has changed significantly since 2020 and this agreement reflects the importance of – and growing demand for – a North American lithium supply chain.

The SC6 Tesla will acquire from Piedmont from North American Lithium (NAL). Production of SC6 at NAL was halted and eventually commissioned in mid-2022 to restart in early 2023 after Piedmont and Sayona Quebec, a lithium mining company, funneled $80 million to “improving product quality and plant utilization.”

Piedmont said SC6 production would restart in the first half of 2023, with the initial commercial shipments expected to begin in Q3. Tesla will receive lithium from NAL under Piedmont’s offtake agreement with Sayona Quebec. This allows Piedmont to purchase any amount over 113,000 metric tons per year or 50 percent of SC6 production.

Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Cybertruck

Tesla updates Cybertruck owners about key Powershare feature

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is updating Cybertruck owners on its timeline of a massive feature that has yet to ship: Powershare with Powerwall.

Powershare is a bidirectional charging feature exclusive to Cybertruck, which allows the vehicle’s battery to act as a portable power source for homes, appliances, tools, other EVs, and more. It was announced in late 2023 as part of Tesla’s push into vehicle-to-everything energy sharing, and acting as a giant portable charger is the main advantage, as it can provide backup power during outages.

Cybertruck’s Powershare system supports both vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H), making it flexible and well-rounded for a variety of applications.

However, even though the feature was promised with Cybertruck, it has yet to be shipped to vehicles. Tesla communicated with owners through email recently regarding Powershare with Powerwall, which essentially has the pickup act as an extended battery.

Powerwall discharge would be prioritized before tapping into the truck’s larger pack.

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However, Tesla is still working on getting the feature out to owners, an email said:

“We’re writing to let you know that the Powershare with Powerwall feature is still in development and is now scheduled for release in mid-2026. 

This new release date gives us additional time to design and test this feature, ensuring its ability to communicate and optimize energy sharing between your vehicle and many configurations and generations of Powerwall. We are also using this time to develop additional Powershare features that will help us continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Owners have expressed some real disappointment in Tesla’s continuous delays in releasing the feature, as it was expected to be released by late 2024, but now has been pushed back several times to mid-2026, according to the email.

Foundation Series Cybertruck buyers paid extra, expecting the feature to be rolled out with their vehicle upon pickup.

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Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, Wes Morrill, even commented on the holdup:

He said that “it turned out to be much harder than anticipated to make powershare work seamlessly with existing Powerwalls through existing wall connectors. Two grid-forming devices need to negotiate who will form and who will follow, depending on the state of charge of each, and they need to do this without a network and through multiple generations of hardware, and test and validate this process through rigorous certifications to ensure grid safety.”

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It’s nice to see the transparency, but it is justified for some Cybertruck owners to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched.

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Tesla’s northernmost Supercharger in North America opens

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has opened its northernmost Supercharger in Fairbanks, Alaska, with eight V4 stalls located in one of the most frigid cities in the U.S.

Located just 196 miles from the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks’s average temperature for the week was around -12 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there are plenty of Tesla owners in Alaska who have been waiting for more charging options out in public.

There are only 36 total Supercharger stalls in Alaska, despite being the largest state in the U.S.

Eight Superchargers were added to Fairbanks, which will eventually be a 48-stall station. Tesla announced its activation today:

The base price per kWh is $0.43 at the Fairbanks Supercharger. Thanks to its V4 capabilities, it can charge at speeds up to 325 kW.

Despite being the northernmost Supercharger in North America, it is not even in the Top 5 northernmost Superchargers globally, because Alaska is south of Norway. The northernmost Supercharger is in Honningsvåg, Norway. All of the Top 5 are in the Scandanavian country.

Tesla’s Supercharger expansion in 2025 has been impressive, and although it experienced some early-quarter slowdowns due to V3-to-V4 hardware transitions, it has been the company’s strongest year for deployments.

Through the three quarters of 2025, the company has added 7,753 stations and 73,817 stalls across the world, a 16 percent increase in stations and an 18 percent increase in stalls compared to last year.

Tesla is on track to add over 12,000 stalls for the full year, achieving an average of one new stall every hour, an impressive statistic.

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Recently, the company wrapped up construction at its Supercharger Oasis in Lost Hills, California, a 168-stall Supercharger that Tesla Solar Panels completely power. It is the largest Supercharger in the world.

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Tesla shocks with latest Robotaxi testing move

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

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Credit: Sawyer Merritt | X

Tesla Model S vehicles were spotted performing validation testing with LiDAR rigs in California today, a pretty big switch-up compared to what we are used to seeing on the roads.

Tesla utilizes the Model Y crossover for its Robotaxi fleet. It is adequately sized, the most popular vehicle in its lineup, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. It provides enough luxury for a single rider, but enough room for several passengers, if needed.

However, the testing has seemingly expanded to one of Tesla’s premium flagship offerings, as the Model S was spotted with the validation equipment that is seen entirely with Model Y vehicles. We have written several articles on Robotaxi testing mules being spotted across the United States, but this is a first:

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

It seems to hint that Tesla could add a premium, more luxury offering to its Robotaxi platform eventually. Think about it: Uber has Uber Black, Lyft has Lyft Black. These vehicles and services are associated with a more premium cost as they combine luxury models with more catered transportation options.

Tesla could be testing the waters here, and it could be thinking of adding the Model S to its fleet of ride-hailing vehicles.

Reluctant to remove the Model S from its production plans completely despite its low volume contributions to the overall mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, the flagship sedan has always meant something. CEO Elon Musk referred to it, along with its sibling Model X, as continuing on production lines due to “sentimental reasons.”

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However, its purpose might have been expanded to justify keeping it around, and why not? It is a cozy, premium offering, and it would be great for those who want a little more luxury and are willing to pay a few extra dollars.

Of course, none of this is even close to confirmed. However, it is reasonable to speculate that the Model S could be a potential addition to the Robotaxi fleet. It’s capable of all the same things the Model Y is, but with more luxuriousness, and it could be the perfect addition to the futuristic fleet.

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