The Reason Why Thousands of Tesla Cars Are Piling Up at Shanghai’s Luchao Port

Tesla Giga Shanghai got back online last month after extended periods of production pause due to the Covid-19 lockdowns in China. June was an excellent month for Tesla’s production, and record numbers appeared in statistics. But just as things were looking up, Tesla decided to optimize the Model 3 and Model Y production lines at Giga Shanghai and Giga Berlin.

But before it could do that, Tesla wanted to stockpile as many Model 3 and Model Y as it could build. And because it needed the space at the Giga Shanghai to overhaul the production lines, Tesla emptied its holding lots and moved the vehicles into the Luchao port. Tesla enthusiast Wu Wa provided drone footage showing the sheer number of Teslas piling up at Luchao docks while waiting to be shipped, most probably to Europe.

Sawyer Merritt, another Tesla enthusiast, was curious enough to count them. He claims around 7,000 were at the docks in a video taken on July 15, well after the work at Giga Shanghai started. According to our sources, the optimization work began on July 1 with the Model Y production lines, which should be over by now. Tesla then will stop Model 3 production for around 20 days, which is why the company wanted to stockpile Model 3. Indeed, most Tesla vehicles in the video appear to be Model 3.

Another interesting piece of information comes from Wu Wa’s videos. Tesla is now using the Luchao Port to ship its cars instead of the Shanghai Haitong dock, which is further away from the factory. We don’t know whether this is permanent or just a temporary solution until production ramps up again.