Tesla to spend more than $1 billion annually to secure battery mineral supply from Australia

Tesla has announced it plans to spend more than $1 billion per year with Australia in order to secure a sufficient supply of the raw minerals that go into making their electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The details were revealed by Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm while speaking at the Minerals Council of Australia event in Canberra on Wednesday.

“We expect our spend on Australian minerals to increase to more than $1 billion per annum for the next few years,” Denholm said (via Reuters)

Denholm also confirmed Tesla already obtains three quarters of its supply of lithium from Australia. She did not specify how much the automaker has spent on these deals.

Part of Tesla’s reason for spending so much money to secure lithium and nickel from Australia is its responsible mining practices, something which CEO Elon Musk has said in the past is important to the company.

“Australian mining companies do have a good reputation, great expertise, professionalism and are preferred by manufacturers increasingly concerned about meeting both today’s and the future’s ESG requirements,” Denholm said.

This isn’t the only deal Tesla has to secure enough of the raw materials that go into making their batteries. In China the automaker signed a five year deal late last year with a domestic supplier for battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Also last year Tesla extended their lithium supply deal with Livent Corp through to the end of 2021.