Tesla is going to build a lithium hydroxide plant and plans to start operation of Q4 in 2022.

SMM9 March 29: Tesla plans to build a lithium hydroxide chemical plant near the Austin plant in Texas. Q4 is scheduled to start operation in 2022 and will be used to provide raw materials for the upcoming Cyber fuel truck Gigafactory.

The upcoming lithium hydroxide refinery will convert hard rock spodumene ore into lithium hydroxide and use it directly in batteries. Tesla will use a hydrometallurgical process to convert spodumene ore into lithium hydroxide, thus effectively avoiding the use of sulfuric acid. However, this process has not been tested on a commercial scale.