From FB group TSLA…
Matthew Prather
Tesla has some kind of agreement with Piedmont Mining. It may be for future production.
That said… There are the following issues:
Tesla production is limited by battery supply.
Increasing the Battery supply requires increasing the supply of lithium.
The Silver Mountain lithium mine in Nevada is the only US source.
The US wants to further domestic supplies of lithium to prevent dependence on foreign sources, primarily China.
This delay is hindering that independence and hindering an increase of the domestic supply.
It may not affect Tesla’s current production, but it will hinder expansion.
Beside the millions of EVs increase in production from 2 new Gigafactories, Tesla has orders for 80,000 Megapacks waiting to be filled, totaling 80 Billion dollars. Also, the CT and Semi are going to need large amounts of batteries. So any hindrance to increasing the supply of lithium indirectly affects Tesla and all other EV makers.
