Tesla to build Shanghai battery factory in future: China chief

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Sep 2023 21:32

This comes as Tesla revealed intentions in April to develop a huge battery facility, Megapack, with a stated annual manufacturing output of 10,000 batteries.

Chinese youngsters walk past a Tesla showroom in Beijing on May 30, 2023. (AP)

Tesla China President Wang Hao revealed on Monday that the electric car company founded by US billionaire Elon Musk plans to develop a battery facility in Shanghai "in the near future," with the items manufactured mostly for export.

Tesla revealed intentions in April to develop a huge battery facility, Megapack, in the Chinese city, with a stated annual manufacturing output of 10,000 batteries.

Wang told Chinese news agency Xinhua, "We are expected to start building a Megafactory energy storage in the near future. The products will be mainly used for export."

He added that China's new energy vehicle market was very large and its dynamics were showing positive results.

Tesla already has a Gigafactory in Shanghai, which is the company's largest plant in terms of electric vehicle production. Meanwhile, the Chinese market is the automaker's largest after the United States.

Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 as a developer and manufacturer of electric cars and adjacent technologies. The firm is headquartered in the city of Palo Alto, California. Besides cars, Tesla also manufactures batteries for electric vehicles, which are later sold to other car producers, including Toyota и Daimler.

In May, Musk visited China and met with numerous officials from the Chinese government, hailing the "vitality and promise" of the country.

At the time, he thanked the "support and guarantees" China provided for Tesla's Shanghai factory during the Covid-19 lockdown.

China is the largest market for electric vehicles in the world, and Tesla announced in April that it would expand its existing Gigafactory in Shanghai by building a second, much larger facility there.