Tesla Giga Shanghai: New Test Track For Model Y Emerges

Tesla gives the final touch to its Tesla Giga Shanghai factory, which turned out to be the key element in the company's results in 2020, after the COVID-19 related lockdowns hit the world in Spring.

The plant is almost completed, so we are waiting mostly on the news about the first Made-in-China (MIC) Tesla Model Y.

One of the final, auxiliary objects at the site is a new test track (still under construction), most likely for the Model Y. It's equipped with a special ramp, as we can see in images from Jason Yang and WU WA:

Tesla Gigafactory 3 (source: WU WA)

Tesla Gigafactory 3 (source: Jason Yang)

The MIC Tesla Model 3 production continues at high speed - there are a lot of cars ready for delivery, multiple carriers and in general, the site is quite busy.

Between the Model Y facility, and the main parking for containers and Model 3, Tesla is preparing the area probably for some additional facility:

Tesla Gigafactory 3 (source: WU WA)

Tesla Gigafactory 3 (source: WU WA)

Tesla Gigafactory 3 facts:

• location: Shanghai, China
• wholly-owned subsidiary (not joint venture)
• expected total investment: about $2 billion
• construction was started in January 2019
• purpose: production of affordable versions of Model 3/Model Y for greater China region (higher cost versions of 3/Y and all S/X to be produced in the U.S.)
• battery packs will be assembled using lithium-ion cells from various suppliers, including Panasonic
• expected volume: 150,000 per year in the first phase and 500,000 per year in the future
• Targets: production of cars (between 1,000 to 2,000 per week by the end of 2019) to start in the second-half of 2019 (volume production, of 3,000 cars per week initially, from 2020),
• First customer deliveries of Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3 happened on December 30, 2019
• Elon Musk officially announced Model Y program at Gigafactory 3 on January 7, 2020
• Tesla was able to achieve a production rate of about 280 cars a day (10-hour shift) or almost 2,000 a week in December 2019. The production capacity was up to 3,000 cars per week. Production of battery packs started in December 2019 (but at the time not yet at the rate of car production).
• The production was resumed on February 10, 2020, after an extended break, caused by the fight with coronavirus
• In the first half of April 2020, Tesla made the Long Range version of the MIC Model 3 available for order
• In June 2020, Tesla made the MIC Model Y available for order
• As of the end of the June 2020, some 50,000 Model 3 were produced cumulatively
• From mid-2020 Tesla is probably able to produce 4,000 units a week (200,000 a year)
• In October Tesla announced that MIC Model 3 production is 250,000 annually (5,000 a week)