Tesla China ‘Gigafactory’: Huge $2billion plant may begin production within days

Tesla’s ‘Gigafactory’ in China which equals to the size of 121 football fields may begin production within days, according to reports.

The news comes just 10 months after ground was broken for the $2billion (£1.55 billion) complex in Lingang area, a high-end manufacturing park in Shanghai.

Although Tesla is yet to announce when the huge plant will be put to use, observers expect manufacturing to begin by the end of the month.

Tesla aims to make 3,000 cars a week in the factory initially and when it is fully open, its production capabilities will increase more than 10 times to 500,000 cars a year, according to Xinhua. Two workers are pictured in the Tesla factory site today

The Chinese government yesterday granted the US automaker its production license, which means the ‘Gigafactory’ can begin making cars ‘any time from now’, an expert said.

Photographs thought to have been taken inside the factory in August suggested the site could have been doing trial production runs.

Tesla, co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, intends to use the 500,000-vehicle-capacity plant to produce base versions of Model 3 and later also the Model Y.

For consumers in the Far East, the made-in-China Tesla cars would be a third cheaper than the imported versions, reported state-run Xinhua, citing Mr Musk. 

The plant was connected to power grids yesterday after workers spent six months building specialised electricity facilities for Tesla. The Shanghai government has thrown its weight behind the project which signals its shift to open up its car market

The huge manufacturing base, with an investment of more than 50 billion yuan (US$7 billion), is the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in Shanghai’s history and Tesla’s first plant outside the United States. Construction began in January

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Chinese officials announced the beginning of construction at the factory site in Shanghai on Jan 7

The first phase of the 864,885-square-metre (214-acre) factory is now complete and the construction for a second phase is already in full swing, reported China Business Network, which initially suggested that production could start this week.

It is the ‘Chinese speed’ which ensures the factory to be built in ‘record time’, wrote the Shanghai-based news outlet.

The article also revealed that Tesla established an affiliated company in Shanghai on September 27 with registration funds of $100 million (£77.5 million). 

Xinhua said the ‘Gigafactory’ was in its very large stage of construction before kicking-start production.

Workers spent less than six months building specialised electricity facilities for the factory and the workshop was connected to power grids yesterday, said Xinhua.

Tesla, co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, intends to use the 500,000-vehicle-capacity plant to produce base versions of Model 3 and later also the Model Y. The made-in-China Tesla cars are set to be a third cheaper than their imported versions

The first phase of the factory is now complete and the construction for a second phase is already in full swing, it is reported

Tesla established an affiliated company in Shanghai on September 27 with registration funds of $100 million (£77.5 million)

Tesla aims to make 3,000 Model 3s per week in the factory initially and when it is fully open, its production capabilities will increase more than 10 times to 500,000 cars a year, according to Xinhua.

The huge manufacturing base, with an investment of more than 50 billion yuan (US$7 billion), is the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in Shanghai’s history and Tesla’s first plant outside the United States.

‘We think with the resources here we can build the Shanghai Gigafactory in record time and we’re looking forward to hopefully having some initial production of the Model 3 towards the end of this year and achieving volume production next year,’ Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the ground-breaking ceremony in January.

‘Affordable cars must be made on same continent as customers,’ Musk wrote on Twitter ahead of the event.

Aerial pictures taken on August 27 of the Tesla ‘Gigafactory’ in Shanghai revealed how quickly the huge site has taken shape

The huge white workshop which dominates the 864,885-square-metre lot is now complete and more facilities are being built

Tesla did not reveal how much they paid for the land, however the Shanghai Bureau of Planning and Land Resources revealed in October 2018 that a plot of 864,885 square metres had been sold at auction at a price of 973 million yuan ($140.51 million)

A full-fledged auto assembly factory can take about two years to build, but the Shanghai government has thrown its weight behind the Tesla project, which would be China’s first wholly foreign-owned car plant and a reflection of the government’s broader shift to open up its car market.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information yesterday granted a production license to Tesla.

‘This means the Chinese government has given the green light to Tesla to allow it to produce cars in China. Tesla can start the production of electric cars any time from now,’ an analyst told China Business Network.

A picture taken on April 8 this year shows Tesla ‘Gigafactory’ being built in Shanghai three months after construction began

An aerial view of the construction site of Tesla’s manufacturing facility is seen on April 8. The building is now complete 

Tesla would also be able to sell cars in China after public notification of the production license finishes, it is reported.

Producing cars locally is also likely to help Tesla minimise the impact of the Sino-US trade war, which has forced the car maker to lower prices of its US-made cars in China – which has becoming increasingly important as the company seeks to offset softening demand in the United States.

Trade war aside, the carmaker is building the plant in an auto market that likely contracted last year for the first time in decades.