Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
As Tesla (TSLA) continues to report its earnings for Q2 2022, Tuesday's call briefly turned towards the topic of lithium. As the company acknowledges the rise in lithium costs, company founder Elon Musk has started urging entrepreneurs to dive into the lithium refining market, noting that it is a "license to print money."
"I'll say this once again," Musk said during the Tesla Q2 2022 earnings call, "Entrepreneurs, enter the lithium refining business. You can’t lose."
During Tuesday's call, Tesla CFO Zack Kirkhorn noted that the cost of lithium has risen significantly. With that in mind, Kirkhorn noted that Tesla has begun working on lithium refining in-house. Musk previously floated out the idea of Tesla directly going into lithium mining as a response to rising costs.
While the Tesla reps on today's call expressed an expectation that inflation will decline before the end of the year, Musk remarked on the benefits of lithium refinement. Lithium is a precious metal that not only makes up some of the material in Tesla's electric vehicle batteries, but is also used in a bulk of tech products. In April, Tesla reported that nearly half of its vehicles were produced with lithium iron phosphate battery packs in an effort to combat nickel and cobalt shortages.
"Lithium ion battery cell supply is the fundamental constraint for the global transition to sustainable energy," Musk added during the call.
Tuesday's Tesla Q2 2022 earnings call has addressed a variety of topics, including the company's crypto holdings and the current status of the Cybertruck. Be sure to follow Shacknews' continuing Tesla coverage for the latest updates.