A leading Chinese producer of lithium will supply a fifth of its production to Tesla. Lithium is a metal used in batteries of electric cars.
Tesla will ask its battery suppliers to purchase lithium from Ganfeng Lithium Co., as mentioned in the China-based firm’s filing to the Shenzhen exchange on Friday. The deal between Tesla and Ganfeng Lithium will run from 2018 through 2020, and might be extended by three years – according to Ganfeng. Ganfeng’s lithium compounds capacity may rise to 75,000 tons of carbonate equivalent at the end of this year, which would make it the industry’s second-largest, according to CRU Group research cited in its IPO prospectus.