Mapped: Where Tesla and BYD Make Their Cars

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19 seconds ago

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June 11, 2024 Graphics/Design:

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Mapped: Where Tesla and BYD Make Their Cars

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In 2023, Tesla and BYD were the world’s two largest electric vehicle (EV) companies by a large margin, holding 19.9% and 17.1% market shares respectively.

With no other company able to match their scale, these two automakers have found themselves locked in a competition for the global EV crown. In Q4 2023, BYD outsold Tesla for the first time ever by 41,000 vehicles (526,000 vs 485,000). In Q1 2024, however, their positions were switched after Tesla outsold BYD by 87,000 vehicles (387,000 vs 300,000).

To gain insight into this rivalry, we’ve visualized the locations of both companies’ present and future EV factories, along with their estimated maximum annual output. Figures come from a variety of sources, and represent the latest information pertaining to planned production facilities (as of April 2024).

Tesla’s EV Factories

Starting with Tesla, this graphic highlights the locations of their four operational factories. Gigafactory Shanghai is the largest in terms of production output, at 750,000 vehicles per year.

Note that Gigafactory Nevada is not on this list because it produces battery cells, rather than finished vehicles.

CompanyLocationMax Annual OutputEst. Completion Tesla🇺🇸 Fremont, CA650,000– Tesla🇺🇸 Austin, TX250,000– Tesla🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany250,000– Tesla🇨🇳 Shanghai, China750,000– Tesla🇲🇽 Monterrey, MexicoTBD2026

Tesla’s China factory is unique in that it’s fully owned by Tesla itself, rather than a joint venture with a local company.

Looking to the future, Tesla’s next factory will be Gigafactory Mexico, which was announced (with few details) in March 2023. According to reporting by Electrek, the Mexican government is eager for the factory to begin construction, despite CEO Elon Musk voicing concerns about today’s high-interest rate environment.

BYD’s EV Factories

Although EV demand is not growing as quickly as it was in previous years, BYD is putting the pedal to the floor when it comes to global expansion. The company has announced factories in various regions including Europe, Southeast

Visualizing Cobalt Production by Country in 2023

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14 seconds ago

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May 31, 2024 Graphics/Design:

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Visualizing Cobalt Production by Country in 2023

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Cobalt is a critical mineral used in numerous commercial, industrial, and military applications. In recent years, it has gained attention as it is also necessary for batteries used in cell phones, laptops, and electric vehicles (EVs).

This graphic illustrates estimated cobalt production by country in 2023 in metric tons. The data is from the most recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries, published in January 2024.

The DRC Produces 74% of Global Cobalt

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accounts for 74% of the world’s cobalt output. Although the metal is found on a large scale in other parts of the world, like Australia, Europe, and Asia, the African nation holds the biggest reserves by far. Of the 11,000,000 metric tons of worldwide reserves, it is estimated that 6,000,000 metric tons are located in the DRC.

Countrymetric tonsPercentage 🇨🇩 DRC170,00074% 🇮🇩 Indonesia17,0007% 🇷🇺 Russia8,8004% 🇦🇺 Australia4,6002% 🇲🇬 Madagascar4,0002% 🇵🇭 Philippines3,8002% 🌍 Other Countries21,1009% Total229,300100%

Since around 20% of the cobalt mined in the DRC originates from small-scale artisanal mines, often employing child labor, the extraction of the metal has been a point of intense debate. With a long history of conflict, political upheaval, and instability, the country is often listed among the poorest nations in the world.

Today, the EV sector constitutes 40% of the overall cobalt market.

China is the world’s leading consumer of cobalt, with nearly 87% of its consumption used by the lithium-ion battery industry.

In the U.S., 50% of cobalt consumed is used in superalloys, mainly in aircraft gas turbine engines.

Learn More About Critical Minerals From Visual Capitalist

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out The Critical Minerals to China, EU, and U.S. National Security. This visualization shows which minerals are essential to China, the United States, and the European Union.

Ranked: The World’s Largest Lithium Producers in 2023

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53 mins ago

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May 23, 2024 Graphics/Design:

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The World’s Largest Lithium Producers in 2023

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Three countries—Australia, Chile, and China—accounted for 88% of lithium production in 2023.

In this graphic, we list the world’s leading countries in terms of lithium production. These figures come from the latest USGS publication on lithium statistics (published Jan 2024).

Australia Leads, China Approaches Chile

Australia, the world’s leading producer, extracts lithium directly from hard-rock mines, specifically from the mineral spodumene.

The country saw a big jump in output over the last decade. In 2013, Australia produced 13,000 metric tons of lithium, compared to 86,000 metric tons in 2023.

RankCountryLithium production 2023E (metric tons) 1🇦🇺 Australia86,000 2🇨🇱 Chile44,000 3🇨🇳 China33,000 4🇦🇷 Argentina9,600 5🇧🇷 Brazil4,900 6🇨🇦 Canada3,400 7🇿🇼 Zimbabwe3,400 8🇵🇹 Portugal380 🌍 World Total184,680

Chile is second in rank but with more modest growth. Chilean production rose from 13,500 tonnes in 2013 to 44,000 metric tons in 2023. Contrary to Australia, the South American country extracts lithium from brine.

China, which also produces lithium from brine, has been approaching Chile over the years. The country increased its domestic production from 4,000 metric tons in 2013 to 33,000 last year.

Chinese companies have also increased their ownership shares in lithium producers around the globe; three Chinese companies are also among the top lithium mining companies. The biggest, Tianqi Lithium, has a significant stake in Greenbushes, the world’s biggest hard-rock lithium mine in Australia.

Argentina, the fourth country on our list, more than tripled its production over the last decade and has received investments from other countries to increase its output.

With all the top producers increasing output to cover the demand from the clean energy industry, especially for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, the lithium market has seen a surplus recently, which caused prices to collapse by more than 80% from a late-2022 record high.