The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - June 5, 2025
A Lucid Air sedan and Lucid Gravity SUV in Alaska, a state that serves as a cold-weather testing ground for Lucid Motor EVs and a source of graphite for future models.
Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors and North America-focused critical minerals company Graphite One have signed a multi-year deal that will establish an all-American mine-to-EV battery graphite supply chain with links in Alaska, Ohio, Arizona, and garages across the United States.
"A supply chain of critical materials within the United States drives our nation's economy, increases our independence against outside factors or market dynamics, and supports our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of our vehicles," said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of Lucid Motors, a tech company known for producing the longest range EVs on the market.
Winterhoff and Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Huston unveiled the multi-year graphite supply agreement at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, a three-day event that provided investors and policymakers from around the globe deep insights into the 49th State's sustainable energy and minerals potential.
Among Alaska's vast energy minerals, Graphite Creek stands out as a future American source for Lucid's EV batteries. Being advanced toward development by Graphite One, this project hosts the largest known deposit of graphite in North America.
A day before unveiling the mined graphite offtake agreement with Lucid, Graphite One announced that Graphite Creek has been accepted for permitting under FAST-41, a federal program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness and transparency of large-project permitting.
"The approval of Graphite Creek as FAST-41's first Alaskan mining project is a major step for G1 and our complete U.S.-based supply chain strategy," said Huston.
The accelerated permitting timeline expected under FAST-41 is good news for Lucid, which builds its EVs and components in the U.S. but must look abroad for minerals and metals for its batteries and drivetrains.
"Currently, we are still dependent on importing critical minerals from other countries, and we need to change this to have a very resilient supply chain," Winterhoff told the more than 1,000 attendees of the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference.
Lucid Motors interim CEO Marc Winterhoff (at the podium) on stage with Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy to announce a long-term graphite supply agreement.
Lucid's agreement for graphite from Alaska is part of the American automaker's broader strategy to support domestic supply chains.
Winterhoff said reliable and affordable supplies of cobalt, graphite, manganese, nickel, and rare earths for batteries, motors, and other components are "absolutely critical" to Lucid's all-American EV battery ambitions.
One of the ways automakers like Lucid can support nascent critical mineral supply chains is through offtake agreements that provide investors and banks with the confidence to provide the financial backing needed to get projects off the ground.
Lucid first entered into an offtake agreement with Graphite One about a year ago. That agreement was for synthetic graphite anode material to be produced at a processing plant Graphite One plans to build in Ohio.
The new supply agreement expands last year's offtake to include flake graphite mined at Graphite Creek in Alaska and upgraded to battery-grade anode material at the Ohio plant.
"This agreement complements the deal we struck with Lucid in 2024 – which marked the first synthetic graphite agreement between a U.S. graphite developer and a U.S. EV company," said Huston. "We made history then – and we're continuing to make history now as we build momentum for our efforts to develop a fully domestic graphite supply chain, to meet market demands and strengthen U.S. industry and national defense."
Graphite One anticipates that it will begin producing synthetic graphite at the Ohio plant in 2028, and will scale up to full capacity by 2032, which is when the first shipments of natural flake graphite from Alaska are scheduled to arrive.
Once running at full commercial capacity, the Ohio plant is designed to produce 169,000 metric tons of graphite anode material per year, which is roughly enough for approximately 2 million sedan-sized EVs with medium range.
With its sedan providing drivers with an industry-leading range of 512 miles and its SUV able to travel 450 miles on a single charge, Lucid's Air and Gravity EVs are a step above average.
Lucid expects to produce 20,000 EVs in Arizona this year, ramping up to 365,000 annually by 2030, which is closely aligned with Graphite One's scaling up of anode production in Ohio and the start of mining at its world-class Graphite Creek mine in Alaska.
With more than 17 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration, and technology metals.
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