The Shanghai Pudong New Area Emergency Management Bureau recently released a report on a mechanical injury accident that occurred at Tesla’s Shanghai factory. The accident occurred on February 4, 2023, in the welding workshop, where night shift employees failed to put a safety lock on the safety door before entering the dangerous area for cleaning operations. As a result, they were squeezed by the equipment when another employee on the morning shift started the device reset without checking whether anyone was in the dangerous area.
Tesla’s risk management and control measures came under scrutiny following the accident. The investigation team found that the company relies on employees’ self-abiding awareness to ensure safety, which leaves control loopholes. The report highlights the importance of having robust safety measures in place to prevent such accidents.
Despite the safety concerns, Tesla is moving forward with its plans to expand its operations in Shanghai. On April 9, the company announced that it would build a new energy storage superfactory in the city, Tesla to Build Megapack Battery Factory in Shanghai with 40 GWh/year Production Capacity. The new factory will exclusively produce the company’s energy storage product Megapack, and it will be Tesla’s first energy storage superfactory project outside the United States.
The new factory is slated to break ground in the third quarter of this year and begin production in the second quarter of 2024. It is expected to have an initial planned annual production of 10,000 commercial energy storage batteries, which is equivalent to about 40GWh of energy storage. The project is a significant step for Tesla as it seeks to expand its presence in the growing energy storage market.