Tesla on Friday formally unveiled plans for a future massive battery factory in Shanghai, the U.S. electric vehicle giant's second in China's economic capital, state media reported.
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Company officials signed an agreement to acquire land on the outskirts of Shanghai on Friday, according to New China news agency.
This new factory, which Tesla announced in April, will have a production capacity of 10,000 “megapack” batteries per year. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2024 and the site will be operational by the end of the year, according to Chine Nouvelle.
Tesla's Megapack batteries, which are intended to store energy and stabilize the supply of the power grid, should each be able to store more than 3 megawatt hours.
Tesla opened its first “Gigafactory,” a gigantic assembly plant for its electric vehicles, in Shanghai in 2019.
The group's imaginative boss, billionaire Elon Musk, made a multi-day visit to China last spring, the first to the country in more than three years due to the pandemic.
Greeted almost like a head of state, Mr. Musk spoke to various Chinese ministers and visited the Tesla gigafactory in Shanghai during his stay.
However, the good relations with Beijing also receive criticism, including from Washington.
Last month, American President Joe Biden, who is no fan of Mr. Musk, believed his various foreign collaborations deserved closer “investigation.”