Tesla breaks ground on Megapack factory in Shanghai

(MENAFN) On Thursday, U.S. automaker Tesla marked a significant milestone with the groundbreaking ceremony for its mega factory in Shanghai, dedicated to manufacturing energy-storage batteries known as Megapacks. This ambitious project, hailed by Tesla as a "milestone," underscores the company's steadfast commitment to investing in China, the world's second-largest economy, despite the prevailing discourse of "decoupling" and "de-risking" from the country by certain U.S. policymakers.

Spanning an expansive area of approximately 200,000 square meters, the new plant represents a substantial investment totaling around 1.45 billion yuan (equivalent to approximately 203.94 million U.S. dollars), according to authorities from the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Notably, this mega factory stands as Tesla's first facility of its kind established outside the United States, marking a significant expansion of the company's footprint in Shanghai. It follows the inauguration of Tesla's gigafactory in 2019, which initially entailed an investment exceeding 50 billion yuan.

Tao Lin, Tesla's vice president, emphasized the pivotal role of the new plant, stating, "I believe the new plant is a milestone for both Shanghai and Tesla." In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Lin highlighted the potential of the Megapack factory to operate with unprecedented efficiency within a more open environment. She expressed confidence in the factory's capacity to propel Tesla's production capabilities, particularly in supplying the global market with large-scale energy-storage batteries manufactured in China.

The groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai witnessed Tesla representatives joining hands with local government officials to inaugurate the construction of the Megapack factory. Scheduled to commence mass production in the first quarter of 2025, the factory is slated to have an initial capacity of producing 10,000 Megapack units annually, underscoring Tesla's ambitious vision for advancing sustainable energy solutions on a global scale.

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