Lightning production plant being paused due to aluminum plant fire 😕

[doggod]

problem is environmentalist are preventing USA from mining, they would rather have other countries strip mining and using children as workers, than ethically producing in USA.
Tesla is only company that makes a profit selling EV's, they sell more EV's than all other EV's combined. so it appears to not be a demand issue, but a price issue, low information, and reporters who are paid with advertising dollars. I see reports that show ICE companies paid for the report, same as when tobacco and insecticide companies paid for reports.

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[djwildstar]

problem is environmentalist are preventing USA from mining

The only commercially-viable aluminum ore is bauxite. Turning it into aluminum is relatively expensive, because the process requires a large amount of energy (about 15kWh per pound produced). Recycling existing aluminum requires much less energy (less than 1kWh per pound), so about 80% of US aluminum production is recycled.

The remaining roughly 20% of US production is new aluminum refined from imported bauxite. It must be imported because the United States has only about 1% of world bauxite reserves. The top 3 countries for bauxite are Guinea (about 25% of all known reserves), Australia (about 20%), and Brazil (about 10%). Most of the US reserves were used in the early- and mid-20th century, with WWI and WWII consuming significant amounts. US-mined bauxite has not been used for aluminum production since the 1980's, and what little is mined in the US is more-valuable for non-metallurgical purposes: producing corundum (an abrasive), cement, and paper. It is also used for water purification, and the oil and gas industry consumes quite a bit, because it is used for hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The biggest reason not to increase US production is not environmental, but strategic. If the US increased production of bauxite to meet domestic consumption, the known reserves would be exhausted in a few decades. After that, US industry would be entirely dependent on imported bauxite and imported aluminum -- obviously a bad place to be. So it is far better to keep US bauxite as a strategic reserve for use in an emergency (such as an embargo or war), and meet current demands with imported ore.

 

[doggod]

reasons for not opening new bauxite mines in Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Oregon are environmental issues, competition from imports, low grade ore, or high costs. just grok it.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Some good news................

https://fordauthority.com/2025/11/f...upplier-to-restart-impacted-plant-in-december

 

[njaehner]

Yesterday our dealer informed us that our agency's 2025 F-150 Lightning Pro (fleet) order needed to be cancelled, and should re-order it as a 2026 model.

Also, the WSJ is reporting that Ford execs are considering scrapping the Lightning https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ford-150-lightning-ev-decision-89dc0d84

 

[WXman]

Yeah I saw that. I would somewhat consider the Wall Street Journal to be a reputable place to find news articles so it's a little concerning that they are reporting the same thing that Yahoo! Finance reported 2 weeks ago.

The primary reason that I do not want to see the F-150 Lightning discontinued is just because I do not know how it would affect resale values on these trucks. It is true that I am leasing mine and so I really don't have a whole lot to worry about but there's a possibility I may need to get out of it a year early or so and if the resale values tank on them that'll be impossible.

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