Mexico is the world’s sixth-largest automaker, a manufacturing titan that has successfully pivoted toward the electric future with models like the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Yet, while the vehicles are assembled on Mexican soil, the heart of their propulsion systems remains a foreign import. Four years after a landmark reform to the Mining Law declared lithium a national heritage, the dream of a fully integrated "Made in Mexico" battery supply chain remains a distant prospect.
The 2020 legislation placed the exploration and exploitation of lithium under the exclusive control of the state, a move intended to secure resource sovereignty. However, the transition from geological potential to industrial reality has proven slow. While Mexican factories are currently capable of assembling battery packs, the high-tech lithium cells that power them are still sourced from abroad. The infrastructure required to bridge the gap between raw mineral extraction and advanced cell manufacturing is not yet in place.
Government officials remain cautious about when this loop might finally close. Rodolfo Osorio, head of electromobility at the Ministry of Economy, recently acknowledged that it is "difficult to know exactly when" domestic battery production will begin. While technical universities and institutes are currently spearheading research into lithium processing, the leap to commercial-scale production remains hampered by the complexities of refining and the specialized technology required for cell fabrication.
For now, Mexico finds itself in a period of industrial waiting. It possesses the mineral reserves and a world-class automotive assembly infrastructure, but the connective tissue—the domestic capacity to transform ore into energy storage—remains unbuilt. Until that bridge is crossed, the country’s electric ambitions will continue to rely on global supply chains for the very mineral it has claimed as its own.
With reporting from Expansión MX.
Source · Expansión MX
