Focus on Arts and Ecology

2019 is slated to be a big year for electric vehicles in China, the world’s largest EV market. A new policy is rolling out requiring all carmakers to earn credits by producing new-energy vehicles or buying credits from those with a surplus. On January 7, Tesla kicked off the “year of the EV” with a ceremony for its first factory in China, reports Caixin. Four years in the making, the Shanghai “Gigafactory” will produce Tesla’s cheaper models. At the ceremony, Elon Musk said it would be completed by summer and some Model 3s should be coming off the assembly line by year’s end. Once at full capacity, it will make 500,000 EVs a year. Tesla is building the factory to avoid import tariffs and be eligible for local EV subsidies. The development comes on the heels of a slump in the company’s revenue from China.