The Australian-based raw materials company Syrah Resources has signed a binding purchase agreement with Lucid for the supply of graphite as an active anode material. The graphite is to come from Syrah’s US production plant in Vidalia.
The contract provides for the purchase of a total of around 7,000 tonnes of natural graphite over a period of three years from the beginning of 2026, according to Syrah Resources. No fixed price was agreed in advance, but rather a ‘floating price mechanism’ based on an index for natural flake graphite. Therefore, the financial scope of the deal is not yet specified.
Lucid Motors will not process the graphite from Syrah itself, but will utilize battery cells with this graphite. Syrah Resources writes in its announcement that Lucid has supply relationships with several Tier 1 lithium-ion battery manufacturers in the US and that the qualification processes for its own Vidalia plant are well advanced with “these battery manufacturers” – the plural is used. In fact, Lucid sources the battery cells for its Air electric sedan and the new Gravity SUV model primarily from Panasonic. Until 2023, the electric car startup also purchased cylindrical cells from LG.
Syrah Resources’ US site is located in Vidalia, Louisiana, in the immediate vicinity of the Mississippi River. Panasonic is still manufacturing the battery cells for Lucid at a plant in Japan. As soon as production at the new US plant De Soto in Kansas is ramped up, Lucid will be supplied from this factory. Lucid itself primarily builds its vehicles at its main plant in Casa Grande, Arizona – the company operates a factory in Saudi Arabia, but only assembles prefabricated vehicle kits in Arizona.
This is not the first raw material purchase agreement for battery-grade graphite that Lucid Motors has concluded itself. In July 2024, 5,000 tonnes per year were ordered from Graphite One – but only once the supplier starts producing synthetic graphite.
Syrah Resources is not an unknown supplier of raw materials in the automotive industry. Tesla had already ordered graphite from the Australian company in 2021, and the graphite ordered here was also to come from the production plant in Vidalia.
