Mexico seeks to build lithium battery industrial park

NUEVO LEON – The Mexican government seeks to create an industrial park for electric batteries (Lithium), alongside Tesla's gigafactory in Nuevo Leon.

According to Martha Delgado, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the park will house different manufacturers, including Elon Musk's firm.

"The government plan estimates that the battery industrial park will be built in the center of the country, since it is a strategic location," she added.

This location was chosen to supply the automotive industry plants located in Puebla, Queretaro, State of Mexico and the Bajio region.

The undersecretary highlighted the state of Hidalgo as one of the entities that would benefit from the project. However, according to the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA), Hidalgo does not have any light vehicle manufacturing plants.

It is worth mentioning that recently President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador noted the possibility of investments in Sonora or Hidalgo related to lithium.

Regarding this, Martha Delgado said that there is an incentive issue that is being discussed with Tesla and that Mexico is reviewing with the Treasury.

"The United States has high subsidies for electric battery factories. For this reason, the Foreign Ministry and the Treasury are working on putting together an "interesting" incentive package in order to allow Tesla to establish itself in the country," added Martha Delgado.

For his part, Mexico's Secretary of Finance, Rogelio Ramírez de la O, said that Tesla's proposal consists of matching U.S. tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), estimated at US$369 billion for the climate change and electromobility sector.

However, the Mexican government refused to match the tax incentives.