Less than a year after construction began, the US company Tesla delivered the first cars from its new plant in Shanghai. At a ceremony on Monday, 15 locally produced Model 3 electric cars were handed over to Tesla employees.
After the start of construction in January, the new “Gigafactory” was hoisted in record time. The production in China enables Tesla to bring its cars to the world’s largest car market significantly cheaper without high import duties. In the end, the plant in Shanghai is said to have a capacity of 500,000 cars a year, even if it is initially likely to produce significantly less.
China is pursuing a massive expansion of electric mobility and is already the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. In 2018, one million vehicles powered by new energies were sold for the first time in the People’s Republic. Recently the market developed slowly due to the weakening economy.
The “Gigafactory” in Shanghai started operations in autumn. (October 18, 2019) Photo: Getty Images
A special purchase incentive is the preferred approval of electric cars in large cities. License plates for petrol are meanwhile raffled off or have to be bought at expensive prices. Buyers often have to wait for years while electric vehicles tend to be approved. In cities like Beijing, there is also a driving ban on one day of the week, which does not apply to electric cars. Tesla will also benefit from a ten percent tax exemption on the sale of the Model 3 in China.
Tesla is also currently planning to build a “Gigafactory” in Germany. The compact SUV Model Y is to be manufactured in Grünheide near Berlin from 2021. Construction on the 300-hectare site is scheduled to start in the first half of 2020. (Aru / SDA)
Created: 12/30/2019, 8:31 AM
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