Tesla secures land for Shanghai Gigafactory

 

The 860,000 square metre plot will be the site of Tesla’s first international Gigafactory, first announced in July, which will allow the company to double its global production as well as capitalise on the rapidly growing Chinese EV market.

 

While Tesla has not announced the financial details of the agreement, Reuters noted that the Shanghai Bureau of Planning and Land Resources revealed on Wednesday that an 864,885 square metre plot had been sold at auction for US$140.51mn.

 

 

 

According to Forbes, Tesla’s vice president of worldwide sales, Robin Ren, said:

 

“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy not only through all-electric vehicles but also scalable clean energy generation and storage products.

 

“Securing this site in Shanghai, Tesla’s first Gigafactory outside of the United States, is an important milestone for what will be our next advanced, sustainably developed manufacturing site.”

 

The facility will reportedly cost around US$2bn to construct, and Reuters said that Tesla will raise this capital from Asian debt markets.

 

Tesla’s plans will see the new Gigafactory produce 500,000 vehicles each year, enabling the firm to minimise purchase costs for Chinese consumers who currently pay an additional premium on imported Teslas.