Tesla is on its way this year to complete its new R&D center in Shanghai, which will design and design its new $ 25,000 electric car.
Tesla R&D Center in China
Just over a year ago, Tesla announced plans to establish a new R&D and design center in China to build an “Chinese-style” electric car.
Tesla started receiving design proposals for its small Chinese-made electric car last summer and started hiring for the program soon after.
Now Tom Zhu, the head of Tesla in China, gave an update on the automaker’s progress at its new R&D center in China during a new interview:
The executive said of Tesla’s Chinese research and development center:
This center is at Tesla Lingang Gigafactory, where we are now. We are now building our R&D in China right here. This R&D center is also Tesla’s first R&D outside the United States. The research and development center has all the necessary disciplines, covering vehicle design, vehicle engineering, vehicle development, vehicle testing, etc. We expect it to be ready and running by the middle of this year.
He was not sure about the exact schedule and he could have meant it by the end of the year, according to the translation.
Zhu noted that there will be more than 20 laboratories in the R&D center.
He also said that the new facilities will be used to deliver Tesla’s next electric vehicle:
We will provide very good conditions to make it easier for our R&D engineers to work towards our ultimate goal. The final goal was mentioned on many public occasions. In the future, we want to design, develop and produce an original model in China. It is manufactured here and sold worldwide.
The executive reiterated that the R&D center is the “starting point” of this goal.
Tesla $ 25,000 electric car
Talking about what Tesla’s new battery cell and “structural battery” architecture could make possible at last year’s Battery Day, CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla will make a $ 25,000 electric car.
The CEO commented in the announcement:
Tesla will make an attractive $ 25,000 electric vehicle that is also fully autonomous.
He made it clear that this new price point is achieved through Tesla’s new battery cell and the battery manufacturing effort.
Musk also added that the new $ 25,000 electric car will hit the market in about three years, when Tesla increases production on its new battery cell.
Tesla did not reveal any other specifications for the car, but Musk had already suggested that it would have more than 320 kilometers of range.
This $ 25,000 Tesla is expected to be the vehicle originally designed and produced in China.
Recently, the Chinese division of Tesla submitted some documents to the government about the production planning of the new vehicle at Gigafactory Shanghai.
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