Construction of Giga Shanghai began from an infamous mud pit in December 2018. To help get the factory up and running, Tesla received loans totalling $614 million USD ($756 million CAD).
According to the automaker’s latest 10-Q filing on April 27th with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that amount was fully repaid this month.
“In April 2021, we fully repaid the $614 million in aggregate principal of our secured term loan facility in connection with the construction of Gigafactory Shanghai (the “Fixed Asset Facility”) and the facility was terminated. After the termination, the $758 million of unused commitment under the Fixed Asset Facility included in the debt and finance lease table as of March 31, 2021 above was no longer available.”
Tesla was able to pay back the loan thanks to ever increasing sales in China. In March the company set a monthly record with over 35,000 cars sold in the month. In the first quarter, Tesla’s revenue in China increased a whopping 238%.
Production at the factory has been ramping up, with some of the vehicles rolling off the production line now also being exported to Europe.
If the ramp continues as expected, Giga Shanghai should produce over 500,000 vehicles in 2021, a figure that could help the automaker double the number of vehicles made to 1 million compared to 2020.
h/t: Tesmanian
