EV Maker Lucid Signs Multi-Year Supply Agreement for Alaska-Sourced Graphite

Huston told conference attendees on Wednesday, “The fact that American-mined graphite, and American-made [synthetic] graphite will be used in America-made—Arizona-made—EVs at Lucid’s Casa Grande plant is proof that our vision of a US-based supply chain from Alaska to Arizona is taking shape, a step on the path of energy dominance happening now.”

The deal is significant because the US currently imports all graphite needed for everything from electric batteries to pencils. Graphite, in both its synthetic and natural forms, composes a significant amount of the material within lithium-ion batteries. The supply agreement with Lucid is non-binding and won’t begin until Graphite One begins production, at which point it will last for five years unless terminated earlier.

Lucid Group Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said the agreement secures a “really local supply chain” for critical minerals that Lucid is happy to support. During his Wednesday morning announcement at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, Winterhoff said graphite isn’t the only Alaska link for his company.

The company used Alaska as a testing ground for its EVs to see how they respond in arctic conditions and to test stability control, traction control, and brakes on slippery surfaces. While Winterhoff did not comment about how the cold affected the company’s sedan or sport-utility vehicle, he did say Lucid holds an industry-leading range right now of 512 miles on a single charge for its Air sedan—more than enough to drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage, he notes. The Gravity SUV can travel 450 miles on a charge.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ and reiterate how important this energy transition is for us, and how important this local supply chain is,” Winterhoff told the conference audience.

Three Years to Production

Graphite One, which is working to develop a US-based graphite supply chain, plans to build an advanced synthetic graphite material and battery anode material manufacturing plant in Warren, Ohio, along with a recycling facility there to reclaim graphite and other materials necessary for battery production. An April report discussing a feasibility study the company conducted this year pegs synthetic graphite production beginning at the plant in 2028.

That same report estimates a 2030 startup of the Nome-area Graphite Creek Mine. The feasibility study showed the mine could hold three times more graphite than initially thought, with a production estimate in a 2022 pre-feasibility study of 53,000 tons per year changing to an updated 175,000 tons per year in the March 2025 feasibility study. Huston says the US Geological Survey recognized the Graphite Creek deposit as the largest graphite deposit in the US and “among the largest in the world.”

“Our feasibility study represents a major milestone for G1 [Graphite One] on our path to production and validates the efforts we’ve made with the Department of Defense’s DPA [Defense Production Act] Title III support to complete our FS [feasibility study] fifteen months ahead of schedule, while tripling the size of our Graphite Creek resource,” Huston said when the feasibility study was released in April. “With President Trump’s Critical Mineral and Alaska Executive Orders, Graphite One is positioned to be at the leading edge of a domestic critical mineral renaissance that will power transformational applications from energy and transportation to AI infrastructure and national defense.”

Graphite One plans to mine the ore north of Nome, process it into concentrate nearby, then ship the concentrate to its manufacturing facility in northeast Ohio.