SAN FRANCISCO, May 8 Reuters Tesla Inc on Monday broke ground on a Texas lithium refinery that CEO Elon Musk said should produce enough of the battery metal to build about 1 million electric vehicles EVs by 2025, making it the largest North American processor of the material.

The facility will push Tesla outside its core focus of building automobiles and into the complex area of lithium refining and processing, a step Musk said was necessary if the auto giant was to meet its ambitious EV sales targets.

As we look ahead a few years, a fundamental choke point in the advancement of electric vehicles is the availability of battery grade lithium, Musk said at the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, with dozers and other earthmoving equipment operating in the background.

Musk said Tesla aimed to finish construction of the factory next year and then reach full production about a year later.

The move will make Tesla the only major automaker in North America that will refine its own lithium. Currently, China dominates the processing of many critical minerals, including lithium.

Texas wants to be able to be selfreliant, not dependent upon any foreign hostile nation for what we need. We need lithium, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at the ceremony.

Musk did not specify the volume of lithium the facility would process each year, although he said the automaker would continue to buy the metal from its vendors, which include Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp.

We intend to…