When Mario Silvera steers his Chinese-made electric vehicle around the streets of Sydney, he is driving the consumer trend that has inspired two Australian companies to invest $104.9 million on the creation of a homegrown, value-added lithium product.

Lithium miner Pilbara Minerals and science company Calix will spend the funds building a pioneering processing plant that will make a battery ingredient with seven times more lithium than the spodumene concentrate that Pilbara and other miners typically export from Australia.