Tesla has formed a new company in China for the research and development of batteries and energy storage devices, according to authorities in Beijing.
The new company has been named Tesla (Beijing) New Energy R&D Co Ltd, with a registered capital of $2 million, according to a document filed with the Chaoyang branch of the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce. The document is listed in China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System index.
Tesla’s China division chief, Xiaotong Zhu, is named as the “legal representative” of the new company, which lists its scope of business as including electric vehicles and spare parts, batteries, energy storage equipment, photovoltaic products and information technology research”, plus the import and export of technology and goods.
At the time of going to press, Tesla had not responded to BBB’s requests for details about whether the new company will have a physical presence in Beijing or when operations are expected to start.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted in 2015 that Gigafactories could be on the cards in China, India and Europe, in a bid to satisfy local demand for batteries.
One of Tesla’s biggest competitors is Chinese company BYD, which already has a Gigafactory in China with plans to ramp up production from 10GWh to 34GWh by 2020.
