Tesla is Gathering Up Around $2 Billion in Loans to Do This

It seems there is not a day that goes by that electric vehicle maker Tesla is not making headlines.

Recently Elon Musk was under fire again for a tweet he made and the SEC now wants the CEO to be held in contempt for violating a deal with the agency.

On Wednesday Tesla was making news again but this time over a gigafactory in Shanghai.

According to equity research firm JL Warren Capital, Tesla is lining up about $2 billion in loans to build its factory in Shanghai.

The research firm wrote that it expects backers of the Shanghai Gigafactory to include Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

“We need to bring the Shanghai factory online,” Musk said not too long ago. “I think that’s the biggest variable for getting to 500,000-plus a year. Our car is just very expensive going into China. We’ve got import duties, we’ve got transport costs, we’ve got higher costs of labor here.”

JL Warren believes that Tesla’s new financing should apply to the first stage of the Shanghai Gigafactory build, with the total project loan amounting to about $2 billion.

The research firm also said that the first stage of financing will likely have a 3.9 percent interest rate, below the People’s Bank of China benchmark rate of 4.35 percent.

Tesla has not confirmed anything and has disputed research from JL Warren before.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and have not been compensated for this article.