Vancouver-headquartered Graphite One (TSX-V:GPH) has inked a non-binding five-year agreement to supply US electric vehicle maker Lucid Group with 5,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite each year.

California-based Lucid Group, is an automotive and technology company that makes electric vehicles and supplies advanced electric vehicle powertrain systems.

Its flagship vehicle, Lucid Air, sells for around US$70,000 ($106,813). The company is also working towards starting production of its Lucid Gravity SUV at its facility in Arizona. Graphite One, which has a market capitalisation of C$131.7 million ($145.5 million), will mine the graphite from its Graphite Creek Project in Alaska and convert it to battery grade coated spherical graphite at a proposed anode material manufacturing facility.

Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston says this is an “historic moment” with it being the first synthetic graphite agreement between a US graphite developer and a US electric vehicle company. “Subject to project financing required to build the AAM (anode active materials) facility, the supply agreement with Lucid puts G1 on the path to produce revenue in 2027,” he says.

The US currently imports all of its graphite with most of it coming from China, which accounts for 70% of global supply. In March this year, Graphite One chose a brownfield site in Warren, Ohio as the location of its AAM facility. The site was previously the location of the US Defense National Stockpile Center and is located central to the automobile industry, Graphite One says.The company is targeting phase-one production of 25,000 tonnes each year of battery-ready anode material, eventually ramping up to 100,000 tonnes per annum.

Graphite One says sales to Lucid Group will be based on an agreed price formula linked to future market pricing as well as satisfying base case pricing agreeable to both parties. Graphite One’s plan also includes a recycling facility, to be co-located at the Ohio site, to reclaim graphite and other battery materials.