Tesla celebrates the 1 millionth electric car produced at the Tesla Giga Shanghai plant in China. The official confirmation indicates that the jubilee EV was produced on August 13, 2022.
Let's recall that the construction of the factory began on January 7, 2019, while the first cars produced at the site were delivered to customers in China in December 2019. Initially, the plant was producing the Tesla Model 3, which later was joined by the Model Y.
Tesla's CEO Elon Musk congratulated the team, noting that the cumulative total is now at over 3 million units (including over 2 million produced in Fremont, California, achieved in July).
"Congrats Giga Shanghai on making millionth car! Total Teslas made now over 3M."
The first million was reached in Q1 2020 and the second million in Q3 2021.
The Tesla Giga Shanghai plant is the world's biggest EV factory, which, according to the latest quarterly report, can produce more than 750,000 Model 3/Model Y annually. It's also the first car manufacturing site in China owned 100% by a foreign company (prior to Giga Shanghai, China required 50/50 joint ventures).
Tesla's combined installed manufacturing capacity as of the end of Q2 2022 was estimated at over 1.9 million units. It means that in about 12 months, we might see a new milestone of 5 million Teslas produced globally.
According to Grace Tao, Tesla's vice president of external affairs (via CnEVPost), more than 95% of the parts used at the Giga Shanghai plant come from local suppliers, while the team is 99.9% Chinese.
That's a very high level of localization of the product, but Tesla might not stop there. In the past, there were reports indicating that the company might design and develop a new model in China.
Besides Fremont and Shanghai, Tesla produces cars also in Berlin, Germany, and in Texas, but those two new plants are in the early ramp-up phase. In the future, Tesla might build its fifth EV factory in Canada.
