Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai will apparently produce its 300,000th electric car this year. The upcoming annual general meeting of the Californian electric car manufacturer is also to take place at a new production facility under construction in Texas – on 7th October.
According to a report from Reuters, Tesla wants to reach a cumulative production figure of 300,000 electric vehicles in China by the end of September.
Tesla had already stated the Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai had an annual capacity of 450,000+ instead of 450,000 in its annual report when it released its Q2 figures. The company also announced that the site had completed its transition to a “primary vehicle export centre”. This means that European demand, among other things, is currently served from there. However, the 450,000+ figure also means that Tesla will have to increase output again in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Tesla is planning its next virtual general meeting for 7th October – at its new factory in Texas, according to an official announcement. The choice of location fuels rumours that the start of production of the Model Y could be announced at the meeting.
In its second-quarter annual report, Tesla said it planned to start up the Texas Gigafactory this year: “We believe we remain on track to build our first Model Y vehicles in Berlin and Austin in 2021.”
The statement did come with a slight caveat, however: “The pace of respective production ramp-ups will be influenced by the successful introduction of many new product and manufacturing technologies, ongoing supply chain challenges and regional approvals.”
Elsewhere, the construction of another Tesla manufacturing facility – in Lathrop, California – is also attracting attention because the company is building a ‘megafactory’ for stationary battery storage. This could bring relief for the Gigafactory in Nevada in future, where both electric car batteries and stationary storage are currently produced.
