To manufacture its Megapack batteries, Tesla will set up a second factory in Shanghai, China

A view of the first Tesla factory in Shanghai, November 8, 2019. © HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP

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U.S. electric car maker Tesla will set up a second factory in China, also in Shanghai, but this time to manufacture its Megapack storage batteries, according to Xinhua news agency.

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China is the "most competitive" market for Elon Musk, boss of Tesla. He had already opened a factory in 2019. Very well received by the Chinese authorities. The Shanghai plant produced some 711,000 cars in 2022, accounting for 52% of Tesla's global production.

This second production unit will manufacture Megapack batteries. Nothing to do with the automobile, they are batteries that store and stabilize the supply of high-voltage electrical networks. Tesla's Megapacks, intended to store energy and stabilize the power supply of electrical networks, claim to be able to store each more than 3 MWh. The plant will have an initial capacity of 10,000 batteries per year and is expected to start production "in the second quarter of 2024."

The announcement comes on the heels of Tesla founder Elon Musk presenting to investors an ambitious but vague growth plan. He had confirmed in early March the construction of another plant in Mexico, for the assembly of vehicles, near Monterrey.

Trade rivalry between China and the US continues

In any case, this proximity of Elon Musk with China annoys Washington prodigiously, while Elon Musk, plans to visit China as early as April and wants to meet the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, according to Reuters.

But the honeymoon between Elon Musk and Beijing does not erase trade rivalry and diplomatic tensions. According to the Washington Post, Chinese military researchers are now calling for the rapid deployment of a national satellite network project to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink, which they say represents "a major threat to national security".

(

And with AFP)

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