Tesla unveils the Shanghai Megapack project

Tesla released a statement today announcing the official opening of its new Megafactory project in Shanghai, which will produce 10,000 Megapacks annually.

What the company referred to as a “milestone project” officially began on Friday morning with a signing ceremony for the project’s land acquisition in Shanghai.

Designed to help stabilize the grid and prevent power outages, the Megapack is a robust battery that stores and supplies energy.

On April 9, Tesla and the authorities of Lingang, Shanghai, inked an agreement for the construction of a new Megafactory there, specifically for the manufacturing of the energy-storage product Megapack.

The Megafactory is going to be the first factory for Tesla’s energy storage systems located outside of the US. Around 40 GWh of energy storage will be produced annually in up to 10,000 commercial energy storage batteries that will be sold on the international market.

The Lingang Special Area Administration announced in April that construction of the plant was set to start in the third quarter of 2024, with production to follow in the second quarter.

According to today’s update, there has been a small delay in the start of construction.

In addition to the factory, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory, China’s largest producer of electric vehicles (EVs), is situated in the Lingang area. The EV factory is currently Tesla’s largest production facility worldwide. It started operating in late 2019.

The primary business sectors for Tesla are electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy, which is further subdivided into solar and energy storage devices, which are presently offered as the Powerwall, Powerpack, and Megapack.

According to Tesla’s website, each Megapack unit has the capacity to store more than 3 MWh of energy, which is equivalent to 3,600 households’ worth of electricity for an hour.

Chinese consumers will be able to purchase Tesla’s energy storage battery products, according to a report published on December 6.

The company, which is presently focused on the US market, brought in $1.56 billion in revenue in the third quarter, or 7% of total revenue, according to the report. The energy storage products planned for sale in China are expected to help Tesla expand more sources of revenue and profit.

Citing rumors from industry sources, Tesla’s Megafactory in Shanghai may eventually start making its own batteries after initially obtaining them from CATL.