Breaking News: Tesla Announced Pilot Production at Its Shanghai Energy Storage Superfactory and Denied the Cybertruck's Entry in China

 

On Tuesday (December 31), Tesla's Shanghai energy storage gigafactory has initiated trial production, expecting to start mass production in early 2025, according to Tesla China.

 

Tesla's mega-factory in Shanghai mainly produces Megapack, an ultra-large electrochemical commercial energy-storage battery, with an anticipated annual production capacity of 10,000 units and an energy storage scale of nearly 40GWh. Tesla planned to mass produce Megapack in the first quarter of 2025. Every unit of Megapack can store over 3.9MWh of energy to support 65 Model 3 vehicles in driving on full power.

 

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangoal Institution, analyzed that Shanghai's manufacturing advantages provided a favorable development environment for Tesla's energy storage factory.

 

In addition, CATL (SZ: 300750), Tesla's important supplier of energy storage battery cells, has a battery module base and a newly-constructed energy storage factory near Tesla's energy storage gigafactory.

 

Demand for energy storage products has been increasing since Tesla launched products. In 2023, Tesla's total installed energy storage capacity reached 14.7 GWh, increasing 125% YoY. Gross profit from Tesla's energy storage business amounted to $1.141 billion in 2023, nearly quadrupling that of 2022. Tesla expects the installed capacity of energy storage to continue to grow, with its revenues exceeding the vehicle business revenues.

 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that global energy investment reached $2.8 trillion in 2023. Of this investment, $368 billion was invested in the grid and energy storage sector. Data indicated that the prospects for the application of energy storage were wide.

 

Apart from the good news, Tesla also responded to the fake news. Recently, Tesla has denied rumors to Chinese journalists that Tesla's Cybertruck, the cyber off-road wagon, would enter China on January 1, 2025.

 

The news of Tesla Cybertruck's introduction into China originated from a declaration by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). On December 11, Tesla's Cybertruck completed the declaration of the MIIT's automobile energy consumption measurement. However, the declaration was canceled on the same day. It is widely speculated that Tesla's Cybertruck still has restrictions in China's relevant regulations.

 

It is worth noting that Tesla China's official website has already put the Cybertruck into the vehicle list. Yet, the website only shows that more information will be provided in 2025.