Tesla will open a new factory in Shanghai, China, to produce its energy storage batteries used to stabilize power grids and prevent power outages, known as megapacks. The plant will be able to manufacture some 10,000 units a year, as announced by the company itself on Twitter this morning.
The official Chinese news agency Xinhua pointed out that the works will begin in the third quarter of this year with a view to starting production - and its sale worldwide - in the second quarter of 2024. The leader of Tesla, Elon Musk is confident that storage is combined with renewable energy to produce much of the progress in decarbonizing electricity and industrial sectors.
Tesla already has one of these factories in Lathrop (California, USA), where it manufactures about 10,000 batteries each year, equivalent to a storage of about 40 gigawatt hours (GWh). According to the company's website, each megapack can store more than 3 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy, "enough to supply an average of 3,600 homes for one hour."
With the investment, whose figure has not been disclosed, Tesla expands its presence in the Asian giant. In 2019, it opened its first gigafactory outside the United States in Shanghai, a plant from which more than 710,000 vehicles left in 2022. According to the official Global Times newspaper, it accounts for slightly more than half of its global sales. Since then it has increased its investment in the Lingang free trade zone, the area of Shanghai where its operations are located, building additional facilities such as a production plant for its superchargers, Xinhua points out.
