Tesla's Megafactory in Shanghai starts operation

An aerial drone photo shows a view of Tesla's new Megafactory located in the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, east China's Shanghai. (Photo from the WeChat official account of the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government)

Tesla's new Megafactory, a sprawling 200,000-square-meter facility in Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area, commenced operations on Feb. 11, 2025, marking a pivotal expansion of the U.S. automaker's global energy-storage ambitions.

The site, equivalent in size to 30 standard football pitches, represents Tesla's inaugural standalone Megapack production hub beyond American borders. With an initial annual output target of 10,000 units post-ramp-up, the factory underscores the firm's strategic bet on China's renewable energy sector.

Groundbreaking for the project occurred on May 23, 2024, with mass production achieved within nine months of land acquisition and eight months of construction–a pace echoing the "Tesla speed" previously demonstrated by the Shanghai Gigafactory, which was erected within a year in 2019.

Lu Yu, head of high-tech industry and innovation department at the Lin-gang Special Area Administration, hailed the venture as a sign of confidence in Lin-gang's business environment. "This collaboration builds on our proven ability to synchronize corporate and governmental timelines," Lu noted, emphasizing a streamlined approval process that inverted traditional workflows.

Photo shows the interior of Tesla's energy-storage batteries Megapack, an electrochemical energy storage device that uses lithium batteries, a dominant technical route in the new-type energy storage industry. (Photo from the WeChat official account of the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government)

Authorities attributed the accelerated timeline to pre-emptive planning, including granular task mapping for corporate milestones and government support mechanisms. "We transitioned from enterprises awaiting approvals to governments anticipating corporate needs," Lu added.

The development solidifies Shanghai's reputation as a hub for industrial efficiency. During the construction of the Megafactory, Lin-gang introduced an innovative "project service package," including building a river-crossing bridge to facilitate project progress and worker apartments that accommodated over 2,000 employees, providing strong support for the project's development.

Lu emphasized the symbiotic relationship between energy storage and Shanghai's burgeoning new energy vehicle (NEV) sector. "The Megafactory leverages Lin-gang's mature NEV industrial chain ecosystem, enabling rapid localization of production while enhancing the broader industry's capacity and stability," Lu noted.

With Tesla rapidly scaling its energy storage ambitions, Lin-gang's established industrial framework positions it as a perfect partner. This synergy underscores how public-private alignment can catalyze transformative projects, framing the collaboration as a blueprint for high-tech manufacturing efficiency.