Tesla revealed in its second quarter financial report its Shanghai plant was now its largest, with a current capacity for 750,000 vehicles a year. This is a substantial increase on its first-quarter report which stated capacity of 450,000.
Tesla said in its latest filing its first plant, in Fremont, California, had capacity of 650,000 units per year while its newest plants – in Texas and Germany – each had capacity of 250,000. This meant the company had global capacity of 1.9 million at the end of the second quarter.
Last month it was reported Tesla planned to halt production at Shanghai for two weeks in July to carry out further upgrades to boost capacity to over one million units. Shanghai, which makes the Model 3 and the Model Y, is by far the company’s most competitive and began exporting vehicles in mid-2021.
Last year Tesla delivered 484,130 vehicles from Shanghai, half of its 936,000 global deliveries. Around 320,000 of those were sold in China with 164,000 exported mainly to Asia, Australia/New Zealand and Europe.
In the first half of 2022, Shaghai delivered 294,800 units, including 97,182 exports, according to the China Passenger Car Association, with second quarter output severely disrupted by the strict Covid lockdowns in the city in April and May.
Tesla exports accounted for 48% of China’s overall new energy vehicle (NEV) exports in the first half of 2022, according to the association.