Tesla Inc.’s first Chinese car factory is officially plugged in.
State Grid Corp. of China opened the first transmission line in a power connection project that increases electrical supply to the Tesla plant to a level required for preliminary production, according to a statement from the Chinese company’s Shanghai branch. State Grid said it will eventually increase the power supply eightfold for the factory to run at capacity.
State Grid said the project — involving 55 kilometers of cables and about 17 kilometers of ducts — was among the quickest it has completed, taking only six months.
Palo Alto, California-based Tesla plans by the end of this year to produce at least 1,000 of its top-selling Model 3 cars a week at the plant, where construction only began at the start of this year. China has exempted Tesla from a 10% sales tax, and the company — founded by Elon Musk — has also secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from local banks.
Tesla was included on a list of car manufacturers that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released Thursday for consideration for approval and public review, which runs to Oct. 23.
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