Tesla Inc has opened a tender process to build its Shanghai Gigafactory and at least one contractor has started buying materials, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters, the clearest indication that construction is imminent.
WORKING LATE
Tesla is facing rising competition in China from a swathe of domestic EV makers. Its sales tumbled after China raised tariffs on U.S.-built cars, prompting the automaker to cut prices to keep its models affordable.
In moves which would further lower prices, the automaker has said it aims to produce its Model 3 mass-market car from 2019 at the new plant – Tesla’s first Gigafactory outside of the United States – and localize its manufacturing and supply chain.
Shanghai’s government, in a statement on its official WeChat late on Wednesday, said Mayor Ying Yong had visited the site of the Gigafactory and that preparation work was nearly complete and construction would start soon.
Ying urged the firm to “accelerate” work on the factory and said production would start to some degree in the second half of next year, the statement showed.
A member of the community at Lingang near the plant’s 860,000 square meter site, which Tesla secured in October, said work on ground preparation and fencing appeared nearly complete.
“Workers work very hard on this,” the person said. “Sometimes they work until 10 pm at night.”
Source: Reuters
