Tesla Giga Shanghai To Produce 1 Million Cars By April 2022

Giga Shanghai currently hosts the final assembly of the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y, with Model Y deliveries that began in January this year. The factory's initial production rate target was 3,000 cars a week, eventually ramping up to 250,000 electric cars per year, which later was again calculated at 550,000 units a year. The first assembled Model 3s were delivered in December 2019, just twelve months after Tesla began site grading on the Gigafactory in December 2018.

According to Simon Alvarez, from teslarati, "… this year, Tesla’s total vehicle deliveries would likely get closer to the 1 million vehicle mark, thanks in no small part to the Model Y and Model 3 ramp in Gigafactory Shanghai and the company’s continued optimization of the Fremont factory. If recent reports from China are any indication, however, it appears that the 1 million vehicle mark could be achieved next year — with just one of Tesla’s electric vehicle production facilities."

An increase in Shanghai capacity from 550K to 1.0M per year to be completed in April 2022 becomes another catalyst for $TSLA stock. https://t.co/qKf5oaeqjp— Gary Black (@garyblack00) November 29, 2021

Tesla MIC ("Made In China") had achieved amazing production numbers by September 2021. It basically produced 25,864 Model Y units and 24,394 Model 3 units, totaling 50,258 cars during that month, which basically would mean more than 600K cars/year coming out of Giga Shanghai alone, another outstanding achievement for Tesla.

"With the upgrades in place, Tesla China is reportedly looking to raise Giga Shanghai’s capacity to 1-1.5 million vehicles per year. That’s a massive jump in capacity, though it is plausible if the company could fully optimize the Model 3 and Model Y’s production. Improvements to Giga Shanghai’s output may also be made possible through innovations such as the use of front and rear megacasts, as well as the potential use of structural battery packs.", Alvarez (teslarati) continued reporting.

Building a Giga Factory in Shanghai was an important milestone for Tesla, which hoped to use its Shanghai factory to gain a foothold in China, the world's largest market for electric vehicles. It was hoped that the local factory would help to speed up deliveries and insulate the company from the ongoing (at the time) trade war between US and China.

The name "Gigafactory" comes from the word "Giga", the unit of measurement representing “billions.” Gigafactories (Shanghai, Berlin, Texas) are being built in phases so that Tesla can begin manufacturing immediately inside the finished sections and continue to expand thereafter. While Giga Shanghai was originally only supposed to produce vehicles for local demand, Tesla surprised the world with how fast it was able to ramp up production at the plant. Now, with this latest 1 million units production estimate for April 2022, it is again surprising everybody in a positive way.

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.