American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla plans to complete the construction of a plant in Shanghai to produce Megapack energy storage devices by the end of this year, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement from the company’s local office.
Construction of the plant began in late May. The plant covers an area of about 200 thousand square meters, and the total investment in this project is estimated at about 1.45 billion yuan ($202 million).
The facility will be Tesla’s first energy storage project outside the United States and the company’s second plant in Shanghai after the electric vehicle gigafactory, with total investments exceeding 50 billion yuan.
Mass production of Megapack at the new facility is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025. At the initial stage, the production volume will be 10 thousand drives per year, which is equivalent to approximately 40 GWh of electricity.
Megapack is a 3.9 MWh battery for energy storage and power supply support, its use contributes to the stability of power grids and prevents interruptions in their operation, according to Tesla’s website. The American company already has a Megapack production plant in California with a capacity of 10 thousand units per year.
Mykolaiv region has received 102 powerful “power banks” from Tesla, said Vitaliy Kim, head of the regional state administration, in a telegram.
These are Tesla Powerwall 2.0 energy storage systems with a System Backup Gateway 2 power management source for use in cases of power outages and instability of the local power grid.
On Friday, 30 devices were handed over to healthcare institutions, 38 to educational institutions, 25 to the State Emergency Service, and 9 to social infrastructure institutions.
The project was implemented thanks to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Tesla, the Institute of Telecommunications – National Research Institute (Warsaw), the Polish government, the American charity Direct Relief, and the Yevhen Pivovarov Charitable Foundation.
According to Kim, the region is actively cooperating to provide the region with alternative sources of generation, in particular, the installation of solar and wind power plants.
American Tesla recalls up to 2.2 million electric cars, including the Cybertruck pickup trucks released this year, due to incorrect font size of warning messages on the dashboard, according to a report on the website of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The font of the messages is too small, which can make it difficult to read critical information and thus increase the likelihood of an accident, the document said.
The recall is being conducted through a free remote software update and affects some of the 2012-2023 Model S, Model X (2016-2024), Model 3 (2017-2023), Model Y (2019-2024) and Cybertruck (2024) vehicles.
Tesla delivered 1.8 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2023.
Shares of the automaker are down 0.8% in pre-market trading on Friday.
Tesla has risen by two lines in the list of the most expensive car brands in the world and topped it for the first time, overtaking Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, according to Brand Finance.
Tesla’s brand value is now valued at $66.2 billion, up 44 percent in one year and five times since pre-demonstration times.
“This increase in brand valuation is a positive signal for Tesla because it indicates better brand awareness, which could lead to higher sales and revenue in the future,” said Alex Hay, director of valuation at Brand Finance.
Toyota dropped to third place, losing 18% of its value ($52.5 billion), while Mercedes-Benz remained in second place (minus 3%, $58.8 billion).
The record jump in value in the sector was demonstrated by the Chinese automobile brand Sokon – by 123% over the year to $739 million.
The analysts of Brand Finance called Ferrari NV the strongest automobile brand having given to it the maximum rating “AAA+”. When evaluating brand strength, the company considers a host of other indicators besides value, including investment in marketing, operating results, and relationships with stakeholders (from employees, suppliers and shareholders to government agencies and community organizations).
The value of the Ferrari brand fell 8 percent over the year, mainly due to the depreciation of the euro against the dollar, to $7.4 billion. In euros, the figure rose 3 percent.
Among auto parts manufacturers, the most expensive brand was once again Japanese Denso, which rose in value over the year by 6%, to $4.5 billion. In the segment of tire manufacturers the French Michelin remained the leader (+2%, to $7.9 billion).
Head of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk, in addition to Starlink satellite Internet stations, donated Tesla Powerwall solar panels to Ukraine.
“Today, two outpatient clinics in Borodianka and Irpin have received Tesla Powerwall solar panels and energy saving systems,” Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram.
According to him, these solar panels and generators have become very popular in America.
“The Powerwall energy system has high autonomy and provides backup power in case of power outages. This ultra-modern equipment will help Ukrainians in the areas most affected by the Russian occupation,” Fedorov stressed.
Primary registrations of electric vehicles in Ukraine (new and used) in April 2021 grew by 6% compared to March of this year, to 699 units, while in April last year, due to the nationwide strict quarantine, only 38 electric cars were registered, according to the Ukrautoprom association. According to a posting on its website on Tuesday, the share of new electric cars of total registrations accounted for 9% (64 units).
The bulk of the electric vehicles registered in April were passenger cars – 666 units, including 62 new and 604 used.
The most popular electric car was Nissan Leaf with 198 registrations, the second result was for TESLA Model 3 (77 registrations), the third for the Chevrolet Bolt (67 cars).
The fourth most popular electric car was TESLA Model S with 38 registrations, and the top five of the April market for electric cars is closed by Audi E-Tron with 37 registered cars.
According to the association, out of 33 commercial electric vehicles registered in April, 29 units were Renault Kangoo Z.E.
Taking into account the April data, in January-April of this year, 2,400 electric vehicles were registered for the first time in Ukraine, which is 37% more than in the same period in 2020. The share of used vehicles was 90%.
At the same time, registrations of used vehicles grew by 36%, to 2,161 units, new ones – by 46%, to 232 units.
