Elon Musk has announced that Tesla could start making its own batteries for electric vehicles due to high lithium prices.
The billionaire’s statement has led to a number of speculations, including that Musk is likely to buy an established mining company.
“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.
Some experts suggest that instead of investing a $43 billion takeover bid in Twitter, the billionaire can buy a lithium company.
“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.
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.