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Elon Musk warned the U.S. company of global battery supply risks in the final moments of Tesla’s earnings call.
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Tesla has built its own lithium refinery and battery facilities to avoid supply disruptions: “We hope others will build this facility as well,” Musk said.
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Recent studies show renewed interest in building these facilities, but the pace of construction has slowed.
“For God’s sake, in the name of all that is holy, can anyone else build this thing?”
Elon Musk made the call in the final moments of Tesla’s earnings call on Wednesday, sounding a little emotional.
Musk just issued a blunt warning to American companies: Build more battery manufacturing infrastructure in the United States or risk falling behind.
The Tesla CEO believes too many companies underestimate the geopolitical risks posed by fragile supply chains, especially for critical materials used in electric vehicles and energy storage.
“There are a lot of companies that are asleep on the shift in geopolitical risk, or they’re just burying their heads in the sand and hoping nothing bad happens,” Musk said. “I’m more paranoid than that.”
He added that his concerns prompted Tesla to take unusual and expensive steps to protect its future, including building its own lithium refining and battery production facilities in Texas.
In December 2024, the company began processing lithium from its $1 billion Robstown, Texas, refinery. This month, Tesla announced that it is producing dry-electrode 4680 batteries with anodes and cathodes in Austin that will eventually be used in “certain Model Ys.”
During the call, Musk described the facilities as “more advanced than any other in the world,” but stressed that Tesla didn’t want to be the only company making such an investment.
“Why do we have to build these things? Why can’t other people build these things too? I mean, it’s so hard to build these things and we’re building them out of desperation because no one else is building lithium refineries and cathode refineries,” Musk said.
“You know, we’re pretty much the largest and only lithium refinery and cathode refinery in the United States,” he added. “So, yes. So. We’re taking action to make sure that no matter what happens, Tesla will prosper.”
Independent research suggests Musk’s concerns are not unfounded.
An October analysis by the Dallas Federal Reserve identified 66 lithium projects across the United States but found that many are still in early stages of development and face long construction timelines, high costs and volatile lithium prices. The study found that many projects could take a decade or more to reach commercial production, if they ever reach commercial production.
