Tesla is breaking ground on Gigafactory 3 in China today

Tesla is breaking ground on Gigafactory 3 in China today as it moves forward with its accelerated plan to establish manufacturing capacity in the country due to the uncertain trade situation.

Earlier this summer, Tesla announced a deal with the Shanghai government to build a wholly owned local factory.

Tesla then accelerated the Gigafactory 3 plans in response to the trade war between the US and China.

In October, Tesla announced that it secured 210-acres of land for Gigafactory 3 in China and said that it is ‘on track’ with an accelerated construction plan.

Last month, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Shanghai Ying Yong stated that Tesla “basically completed land leveling and is about to start construction” at Gigafactory 3. The project is “expected to be partially put into operation in the second half of next year.”

Now CEO Elon Musk confirmed that they are breaking ground at the site today:

Looking forward to breaking ground on the @Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory today!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2019

That’s “today” in China, but it’s actually going to be early tomorrow morning in North America.

As shown by a recent drone flyover, construction work has started at the site, but it doesn’t look like they have started building the actual factory structure, which is likely was is going to justify a groundbreaking ceremony.

The company has recently obtained a building permit for the first phase of construction at the site and they plan on moving fast.

Tesla has been guiding  “some parts of Model 3 production”  at Gigafactory 3 by the end of 2019.

It would mean going from dirt to a production-ready site in less than 12 months.

Update: Musk confirmed that they want construction done by the summer and production by the end of the year:

Aiming to finish initial construction this summer, start Model 3 production end of year & reach high volume production next year

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2019

When first announcing the plant, Tesla said that it expects “construction to begin in the near future” and that it “will take roughly two years” until they start volume production with a planned capacity of 200,000 units and “then another two to three years before the factory is fully ramped up to produce around 500,000 vehicles per year for Chinese customers.

We will report back with more information after the groundbreaking ceremony.