5 things to know about the lithium refinery Elon Musk's Tesla is building near Corpus Christi

Tesla's $375 million lithium refinery, located in Robstown, is expected to be finished next year. Full production would come a year later.

Elon Musk and Gov. Greg Abbott met near Corpus Christi on Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of Tesla's lithium refinery. This $375 million refinery, located in Robstown, is expected to be finished next year. Full production would come a year later.

Here are five things to know about it: 

1. This refinery would help Tesla ramp-up production

Tesla recently lowered its prices and is looking to ramp-up production, ideally producing 1.8 million vehicles this year. In 2022, it delivered a record 1.31 million vehicles. 

But Musk, the Tesla CEO, is worried about an impending choke point: battery-grade lithium. He said lithium is a very common element on Earth, but there aren't enough refineries creating the lithium required for electric vehicle batteries. 

"Battery-grade lithium actually has to be extremely precise," Musk said. "It's ultra pure. Because if you have any impurities in lithium, it causes degradation of the battery." 

That's why Tesla is building a plant near Corpus Christi.

"It's important to address what we think is, as we look ahead a few years, a fundamental choke point in the advancement of electric vehicles," Musk said.

2. More lithium refineries are opening across the U.S.

There are five operational lithium refineries in the U.S., and about 19 more are being developed, said Brian Jaskula, a lithium commodity specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Minerals Information Center. 

He said six of the 19 have a higher probability of being completed between 2025 and 2027. The others have more funding and developmental steps to work through. Most will be (or will attempt to be) battery-grade lithium refineries.

This surge in refineries comes as the U.S. Department of Energy worries about a vulnerability in the U.S. supply chain. Lithium is produced almost entirely outside the U.S., and lithium batteries are needed to power everything from consumer electronics to electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage systems.

China is the largest country for refining battery-grade lithium, Jaskula said.

3. Abbott touted the refinery as key to Texas independence

Abbott on Monday claimed that Tesla's new refinery would keep Texas self-sufficient. 

"Texas wants to be able to be self-reliant," he said, "not dependent upon any foreign hostile nation for what we need. We need lithium for the phone you have in your hands, for the batteries that will be in Tesla trucks, and for other purposes."

He also praised Musk for his various ventures across the state.

"There is no greater entrepreneur in the entire world than Elon Musk," Abbott said. "We're proud he calls Texas home."

4. Robstown is just the latest contribution to Musk's Texas empire

Musk controls thousands of acres across Texas, spanning sandy beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, farmlands outside Austin, a McGregor facility that once made bombs and industrial space in Houston’s sprawling metropolis.

"Elon does things in a very unusual way, which can sometimes lead to unexpected outcomes," said Goran Calic, professor of strategy at McMaster University outside Toronto, noting a recent SpaceX launch in South Texas that exploded four minutes after liftoff. "Texas political leadership, and its people, are more likely to accept these risks than are politicians and citizens of some other states."

Tesla is headquartered in East Austin, where the company says its Gigafactory has a 10-million-square foot factory floor to produce the Model Y and Cybertruck.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, Calif., is launching the world's most powerful rocket from Boca Chica, outside Brownsville, and tests its rocket engines in McGregor, southwest of Waco.

In Bastrop County, about 30 miles east of Austin, the Boring Co. is testing tunneling technologies that would move traffic underground, and SpaceX has a new facility to work on equipment related to its Starlink broadband internet satellites.

"Elon brought his Gigafactory here, and he liked it so much he brought Tesla here and then the Boring Co. here," Abbott said Monday. "SpaceX is here. Neuralink is partly here — that means the future of Neuralink will be right here in the Lone Star State."

Neuralink, based in Fremont, Calif., seeks to create the future of brain-computer interfaces.

5. The refinery will have new innovations to boost efficiency and cleanliness

Musk and other Tesla officials pledged Monday that the Robstown refinery would be cleaner than other lithium refineries.

The company is trying new technologies that would use less energy, boost efficiency and create a cleaner byproduct. This byproduct will basically be a mix of sand and limestone, which could then be used for construction materials.

"There's no toxic emissions or anything," Musk said. "You could live right in the middle of the refinery and not suffer any ill effects."

Musk said Tesla will continue to use lithium suppliers. But Calic, who has studied Musk’s management strategy for more than two years, said refining lithium fits with Musk's preference for vertical integration. His companies build a lot of components in-house.

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Andrea Leinfelder is the space reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at andrea.leinfelder@houstonchronicle.com.

Andrea writes about NASA and the commercial space sector, where her coverage spans human spaceflight, robotic exploration and operations in low-Earth orbit. She also follows Elon Musk's Texas footprint.

Originally from Florida, Andrea graduated from the University of Florida in 2012 and has worked for the Houston Chronicle since 2014. She previously wrote for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. She enjoys traveling, eating her way across Texas and chasing her 1-year-old son and 5-year-old dog.