Tesla and VW boost EV plants

A new Tesla factory in Asia – but not China – is indicated by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

The EV company is building a new factory near Berlin and another in Austin, Texas.

Tesla is expanding its Gigafactory Shanghai and adding more production capacity in Gigafactory Nevada and its Fremont factory in California.

That’s expected to support Tesla’s aim to deliver a million EVs annually.

The company’s meteoric rise is providing financial benefits for those with shares, Electrek reports.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen is also embarking on its e-mobility plans, converting its Emden plant in Germany to assemble EVs.

Investments in the plan to make the plant a cornerstone of VW’s electric strategy total about a billion euros.

The first all-electric compact SUV ID.41 will be produced there from 2022.

“With the conversion of our plant at Emden into a production location for electric vehicles, Volkswagen is forcing the pace of system change,” VW chief executive Ralf Brandstätter says.

Emden is expected to produce up to 300,000 EVs annually with building work likely to be completed by mid-2021.

EVs will also be produced at Zwickau, Hanover, Zuffenhausen and Dresden. In other countries, they will be manufactured at Mladá Boleslav, Chattanooga, Foshan and Anting.

VW intends launching more than 20 all-electric models by 2025, with the ID.3 among the first.