Tesla opens first R&D centre outside the USA in Shanghai

Tesla has completed its new research and development centre at the Gigafactory in Shanghai. The facility is the electric carmaker’s first R&D centre outside the US. In parallel, Tesla has raised a data centre in Shanghai and opened a large delivery centre.

The new facilities signify a further localisation of Tesla’s activities in China. Media reports indicate that the R&D centre and separate data centre were completed this week and are expected to be operational “in the near future”.

The R&D centre employs teams of engineers in software, hardware, electronics, materials and power engineering. Among other things, they are to develop products and services that are strongly tailored to the needs of Chinese consumers. In total, the centre will have 28 labs, including a low-voltage electronics lab, a firmware lab and a materials lab.

Tesla Shanghai Research and Development Center and Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory Data Center are officially landed. We will let it roll recently.💪 pic.twitter.com/CpV7arsvjo
— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) October 25, 2021

The new data centre, meanwhile, is tasked with storing Tesla’s operational data on-site. The facility is the US company’s response to requirements from China’s Ministry of Industry that require companies to store important industry-related data locally.

Finally, Tesla has also opened a large delivery centre in Shanghai. The inauguration follows only a few weeks after the opening of Tesla’s largest delivery centre in Asia to date in Beijing. The Shanghai Minhang Delivery Centre – located west of the Huangpu River – features around 72 covered delivery bays and a seminar area where up to 100 people can attend delivery training sessions at the same time, according to media reports. This is Tesla’s second delivery centre in Shanghai. A first facility already exists in the Pudong district.

teslarati.com, cnevpost.com, reuters.com (new R&D centre), teslarati.com, cnevpost.com (delivery centre)

2 Comments

about „Tesla opens first R&D centre outside the USA in Shanghai“

Scott Sheldon

31.01.2023 um 15:25

Why can't someone develop a battery for your cars that can be easily slipped in and out of your vehicles like a spare tire? You could have charging stations at petroleum gas stations where you pull into when your battery it low and replace it with a fully charged battery in a matter it minutes. You would be billed a monthy fee for how many times you switched your batteries out depending on your diving habits. It would sure save time sitting around waiting for hours to have your car charged on trips or having expensive electical upgrades done to your home to allow high amperage charging circuits. In the future they could also convert petroleum stations into switching/charging stations. I believe Shell Oil Company might secretly have something in mind like that for their station or at least make something like that available at all their stations. The problem would be standardizing batteries so they are all the same size with all the same quick connect anodes. I'm sure some sharp engineer could figure some like that out.

Mark Collison

01.02.2023 um 16:07

The current technology requires batteries to be large and heavy. Being able to remove them would be more difficult and expensive than it would be worth. The cost/benefit ratio is prohibitive. More energy-dense batteries (more energy per kilogram) will help make them smaller and lighter, useful especially for small EV's which are noticeably scarce in the American EV market unfortunately