Tesla’s Plans for a Megafactory in Shanghai

Along with its automotive business, Tesla has developed a range of energy storage solutions at both the residential and the commercial scale. One such solution includes Tesla Megapacks, which new reports show will be built at a new facility for the company, set to be built in China in the coming months.

Above: A Tesla charging at a Supercharger station (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Tesla announced plans to build a new Megapack factory — dubbed a “Megafactory” — in Shanghai, China, as reported in recent weeks by The Verge. The announcement was made at an event celebrating officials signing off on the project, featuring administrators from the Lin-gang Special Area where the Megafactory will be located.

The factory is expected to be similar to its current Megapack production facilities at its Gigafactory Nevada, and to its Lathrop, California location, deemed the company’s first Megafactory. The Shanghai location will reportedly be based closely on the Lathrop site, expected to produce 40GWh worth of Megapack systems per year, eventually producing as many as 10,000 Megapack systems per year.

Tesla’s nearby Gigafactory Shanghai has become a significant driver of the automaker’s global Model 3 and Model Y vehicle production for China and several surrounding countries. The move to build a Megafactory is just the latest in the company’s plans to push the world forward on Tesla and CEO Elon Musk’s target of progressing the world into “a sustainable energy civilization.”

To do so, Tesla says the world would need approximately 240TWh of capacity for storing energy. Along with Tesla’s plans in Shanghai, the company also recently shared a video debuting a new solar and energy storage site in Monterey County, California, dubbed “Cal Flats.” According to some reports, Apple will also be getting some of its energy from this site, which is expected to produce 280MW of solar energy annually, roughly equivalent to powering 100,000 homes each year.

Above: Tesla Megapack | Cal Flats (Video: Tesla / YouTube).

Other major projects supported by Tesla’s Megapacks include multiple across U.S. states, a few in each Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, along with other projects in Japan, Hungary and more. Tesla’s Lathrop Megafactory can produce a Megapack every 68 seconds, while the company’s Giga Nevada can make 42 Megapacks per week, as of reports last year.

Tesla’s automotive business plays a key role in encouraging the world to transition to sustainable energy, but in the long run, clean energy generation and storage will play just as important of roles in the fight against climate change. While there’s still a long way to go, Tesla has been a key voice in the move toward clean energy, and that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

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