Thomson Reuters reports that Exxon Mobil has recently announced a plan to begin electric vehicle battery metal, or lithium, production in Arkansas in 2026.
"According to the IEEE Spectrum website, the lithium-ion battery was first designed by M. Stanley Whitfield at Exxon in 1972, but took decades to make it out of the lab and into the world for usage", said multiple scientists. It was only after John B. Goodenough at the University of Oxford decided to take up the project and finish developing the battery that it became a widely used product, found in laptops, cellphones, electric vehicles, and power tools. Global sales now reach around $45 billion and are predicted to continue rising to around $100 billion in the next decade.
A Thompson Reuters article stated that "Exxon has now agreed to develop an area of 6,100 acres of lithium-producing land in Arkansas". To study a geological formation stretching from Florida to Texas, Exxon has been drilling wells into these lithium-rich formations and testing different lithium extraction technologies. Exxon is partnering with Tetra, a company that makes chemicals for water treatment and recycling.
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