Elon Musk has announced that Tesla could start making its own batteries for electric vehicles due to high lithium prices.<\/p>\n
The billionaire’s statement has led to a number of speculations, including that Musk is likely to buy an established mining company.<\/p>\n
“should management be serious about entering the lithium space, we think the most likely route would be an acquisition of an existing lithium company,” said Morningstar lithium analyst Seth Goldstein.<\/p>\n
Some experts suggest that instead of investing a $43 billion takeover bid in Twitter, the billionaire can buy a lithium company.<\/p>\n
“If you’re going to spend 43 billion and you run Tesla and you understand better than anyone Telsa’s future lithium needs, you might want to spend a lot less and buy a lithium company or two,” said Joe Lowry, a lithium industry consultant.<\/p>\n
While Tesla already has supply contracts for nickel, lithium and other EV metals, the company is building a lithium processing plant in Texas. The company may also have to build a nickel refinery.<\/p>\n