Tesla Applies to Build Cathode Plant at Giga Texas

More good news about Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory. It seems the electric car manufacturer has applied for another building at the Austin facility to produce cathodes.

Local permit records confirm the application was filed on Feb 2nd, 2022, meaning this new production facility might take some time to get up and running, but it’s definitely in line with Tesla’s strategy of moving production facilities to one place for ease of use. The plot of land in question is directly beside the Texas Gigafactory, along the Colorado River.

A large portion of supply chain costs - and environmental impact - are from just transporting the materials; so by making the factory right next door, Tesla execs predict a sharp drop in mileage those materials have to cover overall.

You folks might remember that in January Tesla announced that all model Y vehicles made in the Texas Gigafactory would be equipped with the new 4680 battery and structural battery pack. But it was in that update that the company also confirmed they were already deploying battery manufacturing equipment to the Texas Gigafactory. And while the company reports that their current cathode suppliers are more than enough to meet the constraints of this production run; it’s obvious the company wants to switch to producing cathodes on their turf to support the output of the Kato facility in California.

Add to that Tesla’s recent moves to acquire North American sources for nickel and lithium - courting companies like Talon Metals and Piedmont Lithium - and the new cathode tech Tesla acquired from a Canadian startup called Springpower International. It’s really not hard to see how the company’s going to pull this off. They’ve put in the work, and once this factory gets going, it’ll be interesting to see just how much they’re able to produce with part of the process being so closely placed.