>>145908, >>145910

Tesla Isn't Getting Into the Lithium Industry
July 22, 2022
Despite his conference call comments about the shortage of refining capacity to provide battery-grade lithium carbonate and hydroxide, Musk was fairly clear on a podcast back in early July that Tesla will not directly enter the lithium business as some have speculated:
"Well, we don't want to go into the mining industry or the sort of refining industry because the limitation, I think, is actually more. For example, with lithium, it's more lithium refinement than it is the actual mining. So you better take the ore that contains lithium, and you've got to refine it and get it to battery-grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate. And it has to be extremely pure. Otherwise, you could have a breakdown in the cell.
Though Musk did add an asterisk on the conference call that suggests Tesla may yet get into the lithium business if it can't secure enough supply:
Yes. If our suppliers don't solve these problems, then we will.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4525224-elon-musk-is-right-lithium-refining-is-a-license-to-print-money