Tesla’s China Plant Is Hooked Up to State Grid Power Supply

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s first Chinese car factory is officially plugged in.

State Grid Corp of China has opened the first transmission line in a power connection project that increases electricity 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 best-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.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.