Tesla opens first overseas vehicle R&D centre in Shanghai

Tesla has opened its research and development innovation centre, the first of its kind among the electric car company's overseas facilities and a Gigafactory data centre, in Shanghai.

Tom Zhu, president of Tesla China, said Tesla has been practicing its commitment to deeply cultivating the Chinese market, adding that the R&D center will further promote Tesla's localisation process in China.

According to the plan, the R&D innovation centre will carry out original development work for vehicles, charging equipment and energy products, reports Xinhua news agency.

The data centre will be used to store Chinese operations data such as factory production information.

Tesla on Monday reached the $1 trillion market cap for the first time.

Tesla becomes the fifth US company to join the $1 trillion club, after Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.

Its stock soared to a new record-high after it crossed $950 during the trading -- up more than 9 per cent.

The rally came after the US-based rental car company Hertz on Monday said it has ordered 1,00,000 Tesla vehicles (worth at least $4.2 billion) by the end of 2022 as part of an ambitious plan to electrify its fleet.

The move includes new EV charging infrastructure across the company's global operations - IANS