US electric car maker Tesla is to set up a second factory in China, also in Shanghai, to manufacture its Megapack batteries, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
The plant will have an initial capacity of 10,000 Megapack batteries per year and is expected to start production "
in the second quarter of 2024
", according to this source.
It will be Tesla's second in Shanghai, following the opening of a large site in 2019.
Tesla's megapacks, intended to store energy and stabilize the supply of electrical networks, claim to be able to store more than 3 megawatt hours each.
The announcement comes on the heels of Tesla founder Elon Musk's presentation to investors of an ambitious but vague growth plan.
He had confirmed in early March the construction in Mexico of another plant, for the assembly of vehicles, near Monterrey.
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Record profits
Tesla is at its zenith, after years of losses, thanks to an impressive succession of record profits, boosted by the opening of factories and the ramping up of its production.
The American group also plays the role of main catalyst of the current revolution in the automobile, most of the efforts of innovation of the manufacturers passing from the internal combustion engine to the electric one.
Despite this success, Elon Musk fell short of some of his very ambitious goals.
The entry-level price of its cheapest car, $43,000 for the Model 3, in the United States, proved too high for many Americans, despite its vocation to appeal to a very large market.
Elon Musk is also late on his agenda to market a fully autonomous vehicle, as the driver assistance technology developed by Tesla has stimulated investigations by American regulators.
Its relations with China have also raised eyebrows in Washington, with US President Joe Biden saying in November that the group's leadership ties to foreign countries were "
worthy
" of scrutiny.
