Tesla, Elon Musk’s company, has just recently shown interest in signing a trade partnership with Nigeria, to import raw materials for the production of batteries for its electric vehicles.
Musk’s company had been looking to import lithium ¬¬-which is an essential component for producing electric vehicle batteries, from Nigeria, where significant deposits of the minerals can be found in Kogi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Oyo, Ekiti, Cross River, and Kwara states respectively.
An anonymous representative of Tesla had talked with the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, on a trade pact that would see Tesla list Nigeria as a market source for the company’s lithium.
The trade offer was turned down by the Federal government, according to Adegbite as Musk was instead asked to build a battery factory in Nigeria, which would produce new markets and jobs within the country.
Adegbite had announced this at a summit titled, “Leveraging Future Minerals for Sustainable Development”, held in Abuja on Thursday.
Serious electric vehicle discussion has been coming into view in Nigeria in the past years, with different stakeholders in the country displaying interest.
Companies like GIG Logistics and JET Motor Company struck a deal to introduce the first electric vehicles in Nigeria’s delivery market.
With about half of lithium demand in the next twenty years geared to come from the global electric vehicle industry, the federal government believes Tesla creating its battery factory within Nigeria, would better position Nigeria in the global electric vehicle market.
In 2020, the global market for electric vehicles was valued at $163.01 billion, but this valuation is set to rise greatly to $823.75 billion by the year 2030, with the lithium market estimated to grow from $3.64 billion in 2020 to $6.62 billion in 2028.
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