According to sources, the new cathetery factory located near Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory has begun shipping to Tesla. The increase in battery supply means the U.S. manufacturer can produce more cars to meet growing market demand, and Tesla expanded its production capacity in the future, investing another $188 million in November 2021.
The well-known media "Shangguan News" quoted people familiar with the matter as reporting that catheter times have begun to ship batteries to Tesla from a new factory near the Tesla factory in Shanghai. According to CATL sources, deliveries at the plant began as early as November 2021.
Since batteries are one of the main bottlenecks for EV manufacturers, having more battery supplies could mean tesla can now continue to ramp up its production to offer more electric vehicles to those who book it.
In June 2021, Tesla's new production plant near its Shanghai plant became known for the first time, although it was an unconfirmed rumor at the time. However, AS early as August of the same year, CATL announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Shanghai Municipal Government to build a high-performance manufacturing base in the Lingang Special Zone. According to rumors, its battery production can reach 80 GWh per year.
Since CATL found a ready-made plant that met all the standards and requirements of the manufacturer, the company did not have to build a new factory from scratch. The source said that this saved 7-8 months of time for the start of production. The source also noted that the plant has now reached 60 percent of its production capacity, meaning it can be increased to 100 percent soon.
Since catheter's new factory is located near Tesla's Shanghai factory, there is good reason to believe that most of the batteries produced here will be supplied to Tesla. Given that CATL is Tesla's main battery supplier in China, this also indirectly means that the production capacity of Tesla's Shanghai factory will increase again.
At the same time that CATL began delivering the first batteries to the U.S. manufacturer, Tesla's Shanghai plant launched a project to expand production capacity in November, investing about $188 million. Tesla's filing shows that the planned expansion will add 4,000 employees to the company. As a result, the plant's staff will increase to 19,000.
According to reports, the production line optimization project will focus on expanding the stamping workshop, body workshop, painting workshop, final assembly workshop and logistics operation center. The document also revealed that there are no plans to change the models currently produced at the Shanghai plant. But the application also does not say how much production capacity at the Tesla factory in Shanghai will increase.