Tesla breaks the ground at Gigafactory 3 in China today
Tesla breaks the ground at Gigafactory 3 in China today as it moves forward with its accelerated plan to establish production capacity in the country due to the uncertain trading situation.
Earlier this summer, Tesla announced an agreement with the Shanghai government to build a wholly-owned local factory.
Tesla then accelerated the Gigafactory 3 plans in response to the US and China trade war.
In October, Tesla announced that it secured 210 acres of land for Gigafactory 3 in China and said it is "on the way" with an accelerated construction plan.
Last month, the Deputy Minister of the Municipal Party and the Mayor of Shanghai Ying Yong stated at Tesla "basically completed the land level and will begin to build" at Gigafactory 3. The project is "expected to be partially put into operation in the second half of next year. "
Now CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that they are breaking the ground on Te's today:
Looking forward to breaking the ground on @Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory today!
̵[ads1]1; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2019
It is "today" in China, but it will actually be early tomorrow in North America.
As shown by a recent drone fly, construction work has started on the ground, but it does not seem to have begun to build the actual factory structure, What was probably, will justify a groundbreaking ceremony.
The company recently received a building permit for the first phase of construction on site, and they plan to move fast.
Tesla has guided "some parts of Model 3 production" at Gigafactory 3 by the end of 2019.
That will mean that it goes from dirt to a production step taking place in less than 12 months.
When Tesla first announced, Tesla said it expects "construction to begin in the near future" and it "will take about two years" to start volume production with a scheduled capacity of 200,000 units and "another two to three years before The factory is fully elevated to produce around 500,000 cars per year for Chinese customers.
We will report back with more information after the pioneer.
