Tesla Global VP Grace Tao: Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai produces half of the company’s global deliveries in 2021

By Greg Gao

Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai delivered over 480,000 vehicles in 2021, accounting for half of the EV maker’s global deliveries, Grace Tao, Tesla Global VP, told the 3rd Qingdao Multinationals Summit on June 20 in an online speech.

The Shanghai plant has become Tesla’s most important production center and export base,  bringing high-level Chinese-made products to the world, said Tao. 

She also revealed in her speech that Tesla would accelerate the pace of localization and set up an R&D center and data center in China. The R&D center will be Tesla’s first full vehicle innovation center outside of the U.S.. It will design new model for global distribution.

As the world’s largest automobile producer and market, China has world-class intelligent automobile technology R&D capabilities and electric vehicle demands. The acceptance of electric vehicles by Chinese users is also increasing year by year, and the Chinese market plays an essential role in the global electric vehicle industry, Tao added.

Since Tesla entered China EV market in 2014, the EV maker has deepened local cooperation and built a complete supply chain in China.