Xinhua News Agency reported that Tesla, an American electric car manufacturer, announced today in Shanghai that it will increase its investment and sign a contract with the Chinese side to build an “energy storage superfactory” there. The plant is scheduled to start construction in the third quarter of this year and start production in the second quarter of 2024.

The report pointed out that this “energy storage super factory” will produce Tesla’s ultra-large commercial energy storage batteries. The initial plan is to produce 10,000 sets of commercial energy storage batteries annually, with an energy storage scale of nearly 40GWh, and the products will be sold to the global market.

The report quoted Tesla as saying that this “energy storage super factory” will help to continuously enrich energy integration solutions and global layout, and Tesla will invest more energy in China in the future; while Tesla’s global vice president Tao Lin said that Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory has achieved a localization rate of more than 95% of the industrial chain, and Tesla hopes to work with Chinese industrial partners to “explain the strong resilience of “Made in China” on the world stage.”

Zhuang Mudi, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government, said that the Tesla energy storage superfactory project signed this time will become an important force in promoting the development of Shanghai’s new energy storage industry and its green and low-carbon transformation.

Lu Yu, director of high-tech department of the Lingang New Area Management Committee of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, said that after the introduction of the Tesla Super Factory in Shanghai, the smart new energy vehicle industry has become the first 100 billion-level industrial cluster in the Lingang New Area. The landing of this energy storage super factory is expected to recreate a 100-billion-level industrial cluster.

Bloomberg and other media reported earlier that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had arrived in China on the 8th for a visit and is expected to meet with Shanghai officials and will visit Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory on the 10th.