After all the upgrades are completed, the annual production capacity of Tesla Giga Shanghai will be expanded to about 1.1-1.2 million units, according to local media.

(Image credit: Tesla)

Tesla has been upgrading the Giga Shanghai since July, with the second phase of the production line responsible for producing the Model Y SUV having completed the upgrade on July 16, local media Auto Time reported today.

The Phase 1 production line responsible for producing the Model 3 sedan began its upgrade on July 17 and is expected to be completed on August 7, according to the report.

Employees on the plant's Phase 2 line have already returned to work, and employees on the Phase 1 line have been on leave since July 17 and are expected to start work normally from August 8, the report said, citing multiple sources.

After the upgrade is completed, Tesla's Giga Shanghai Phase 1 production line will likely produce 500-600 units per shift, according to the report.

Currently, Tesla has resumed production in three shifts, and single-day production of Model 3 will reach 1,000-1,200 units, the report said, adding that the Model Y production line has already spent a week boosting production to 2,000 units per day, and will reach about 2,200 units per day next month.

As a comparison, the total single-day production at Tesla's Shanghai plant before the upgrade was around 2,500 units, the report noted.

Entering the third quarter, the Phase 1 of Tesla's Shanghai plant production line first produced about 10,000 Model 3s for delivery in China, and has since been producing Model 3s for export until employees went on vacation, according to the report.

Based on the single-day production after the upgrade is completed, Tesla Giga Shanghai's annual production capacity will expand to about 1.1-1.2 million units, the report said.

Along with the production line upgrade, Tesla is also expanding hiring for the Shanghai plant.

The number of hiring positions at Giga Shanghai has now expanded from 4-5 at the beginning of the month to 15, involving positions in several factory processes including body, paint, die-casting, final assembly, vehicle quality and logistics, according to Auto Time.

The report corroborates what was mentioned in a Bloomberg report a month ago, which said Tesla was taking steps to increase production at its Shanghai plant, partially suspending manufacturing capacity for various periods until early August to upgrade production lines.

The plant's upgrades are expected to be completed around August 7, when production of the Model Y SUV will increase to 14,000 units per week from about 11,000 before the Covid outbreak, and Model 3 sedan production will increase to 7,700 units per week from 5,500 previously, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Tesla plans to double its original annual target to 1 million units, the people said.

Giga Shanghai's current annual production capacity exceeds 750,000 units, according to Tesla's second-quarter earnings report released on July 20.

That puts Giga Shanghai's capacity above Tesla's 650,000-unit annual capacity at its California plant, which has an annual capacity of 100,000 Model S and Model X and 550,000 Model 3s and Model Ys.

In addition to these two plants, Tesla's plants in Berlin, Germany, and Texas, USA, both with an annual capacity of more than 250,000 units, currently produce only the Model Y.

Giga Shanghai becomes Tesla's largest facility with annual capacity of over 750,000 vehicles