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Australia needs to significantly expand its capacity to refine lithium and slash red tape to boost the sector, according to electric vehicle powerhouse Tesla. Tesla business development manager Dev Tayal said local refining of raw materials would significantly cut the emissions involved in the production of batteries — potentially to just one tenth of the current level. It would be a major economic opportunity for the country, he said. “We need 30 (refineries), not three, if we’re to compete on the global stage in battery supply,” Mr Tayal told the Kwinana Major Projects Conference on Monday. He acknowledged there had been issues getting WA’s first wave of lithium refineries into production and ramped up, but added Australia had the expertise and engineers to make the industry work. About three-quarters of the lithium in a Tesla battery was sourced in WA, he said. Mr Tayal added his name to a growing queue of industry representatives warning red tape needed to be slashed to get green energy investment across the line. That comes after Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill and Chevron new energy president Jeff Gustavson both warned in recent weeks that permitting delays were holding back projects. “At a state level there are still a myriad of handbrakes for project development in Kwinana and within WA more generally,” Mr Tayal said. “We support calls for increasing site and labour availability, enabling site readiness, (and) streamlining permitting and utility connections.” He also requested Federal financial backing through a production tax credit, which would give a tax rebate for lithium hydroxide produced in the country — encouraging local processing of raw materials. Tesla’s WA interests extend to the other end of the supply chain. There are 5000 Tesla vehicles operating in WA, Mr Dayal said, while the company is providing about 30 megawatt hours of power storage on the grid through batteries and powerwalls. The company is also working with Neoen to develop a new battery in Collie with capacity of about 220MW across four hours.