Tesla partners with nickel mine in New Caledonia to overcome shortage

In order to solve the issue of the shortage of lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars, Tesla has decided to become a technical partner in a nickel mine. According to the reports by BBC, the car firm will buy nickel from the Goro mine on the small Pacific island of New Caledonia. This way its long-term supply can be secured. 

Last month, Musk took to its Twitter and said that nickel is the ‘biggest concern’ for scaling lithium-ion cell production. BBC reports that New Caledonia is the world's fourth-largest nickel producer. Also, it has seen a 26 per cent increase in the prices in the past year. Tesla will not have an equity stake, however, with this partnership, Tesla gets greater control over its electric battery supply chain. 

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New city in Texas 

This comes after Musk announced that he is building a new city in Texas, United States and will be called ‘Starbase’. Musk-formed city will be reportedly around the rocket launch site of his aerospace company SpaceX. Presently, the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of over $169 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, Musk has often taken to the microblogging website, Twitter to post concise updates. 

Later, on March 3, he alluded to his project to colonize the red planet and hinted that ‘Starbase’ would just be the beginning of what’s going to come in the future. Tesla CEO wrote further, “From there to Mars. And hence the Stars.” And hence the Stars.” The Texas facilities of SpaceX are located in Boca Chica Village which is an unincorporated town on the state’s southern tip, near Brownsville. Musk’s aerospace company has been developing its starship rocket and testing the prototypes at the same site since 2014. 

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As per the Business Insider report, the judge’s office in Cameron County, where Boca Chica village is located, confirmed Elon Musk’s plans to create ‘Starbase’. In a statement to the media outlet, it said that in the last few days, Cameron County was officially approached by SpaceX to incorporate “Boca Chica Village into the City of Starbase”. Reportedly, even the Cameron County Commissioners Court was informed about SpaceX CEO’s endeavour in the state.

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