Louisiana town now part of Elon Musk's supply chain

quote:

---

BATON ROUGE, La. - A nondescript metal building surrounded by farm fields just south of Vidalia might seem like an unlikely spot for an important nexus of the electric car industry.

But that's what it's poised to become. Inside the building, Australia-based mining company Syrah Technologies has processed the mineral graphite under a pilot program since 2018. Graphite is a key component in lithium ion batteries.

With the help of a $107 million federal loan announced last month, Syrah plans to more than quadruple the plant's footprint. That will mean adding a projected 36 jobs as part of a project to create the first commercial-scale graphite processor in the United States that produces Active Anode Material, which is used in the batteries that power electric cars.

It will give the company — which has already inked a deal to supply Elon Musk's Tesla from the plant — a U.S. foothold in the booming electric vehicle supply chain. And it signals how state officials are viewing the global energy transition towards more renewable energy as an opportunity for Louisiana's rural areas.

---