Tesla confirms plans to build a lithium processing plant in Texas

Tesla Inc. is moving forward with plans to build a lithium processing plant on the Gulf Coast of Texas to gain more control over the supply chain for its electric battery vehicles.

The CEO of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk confirmed the company's intention to build a lithium processing plant during a conference call on Wednesday, in response to an analyst's question about progress in developing new battery cell technology.

The automotive company had been thinking about the project for months, and was considering at least one more site in Luisiana to build a plant at. The company has told state regulators that it plans to build a lithium hydroxide processing plant near Corpus Christi. The plant will process raw ore into raw materials that are then going to be used for battery production.

Elon Musk has said that lithium is an insanely expensive metal and has repeatedly urged businesses to start recycling the metal to eliminate supply bottlenecks for a key material used in lithium-ion batteries.