Satellite images published by Fast Technology reveal how the 200,000 square meters near Tesla’s gigafactory turned into a megafactory in seven months.
Tesla broke ground on the megafactory on May 23, across the road from its vehicle assembly plant. Seven months later, the trial production started on December 27.
The megafactory is dedicated to producing Megapack energy storage batteries for domestic sale and export. The China-made Megapacks will use the cheaper lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP) cells from CATL and BYD.
Each Megapack has a capacity of more than 3 MWh, according to the Tesla website. The new megafactory can produce 10,000 Megapacks annually, equivalent to 40 GWh of energy storage capacity, the US automaker announced earlier through social media.
They invested about 1.45 billion yuan (202 million USD) into the new megafactory plant. Tesla signed its first Megapack orders with the Shanghai Lingang Economic Development Group. The Megapack mass production will start in the first quarter of 2025.
The plant construction set a new record for “Tesla speed” in China, as Tesla’s first Shanghai plant was built within a year in 2019, Chinese media commented on the factory trial production start.
