Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin (aka Gigafactory 4) has finally begun mass production of electric vehicles. Today, a solemn ceremony was held with the participation of Elon Musk and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: the first 30 cars were handed over to customers right in the factory hall, although commercial vehicles will appear on the market in April.
The decision to build a full-fledged car plant in Europe at Tesla accepted back in 2016. It took another year and a half to consider all applications: nine countries expressed their desire to host the Gigafactory. As a result, the choice fell on Germany, but almost two years were spent on coordination with environmentalists. The construction of the plant began in January 2020, and it was fully ready in June 2021, and the last eight months have taken certification for the issuance of a production license (mainly due to the assessment of water and air pollution). During these procedures, Tesla even had to urgently import cars from China in order to cover the market demand, because according to the plan, these electric vehicles were already supposed to be produced on German soil. As a result, Tesla received permission from the authorities only on March 4 this year.
The new plant, although called Gigafactory Berlin, is located 35 km from the capital in the territory of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin. The enterprise cost Tesla 5 billion euros – this is the largest one-time investment in German industry in recent years. So far, only one model is being produced here – this is the Tesla Model Y SUV. According to the plan, by 2025 the plant will reach the planned capacity of 500 thousand cars and 50 GWh of batteries per year, and the staff will grow from the current four thousand to twelve thousand people.
Interestingly, Tesla already had a factory in Europe. The company in Tilburg (Netherlands) has been operating since 2013, here Model S and Model X electric vehicles were assembled from SKD kits for the European market. Localization was practically zero, and production was closed in 2021. Thus, now Tesla has three operating car factories – in the USA (Nevada), China and Germany. The fourth site in the US state of Texas is on the way, the opening of which is expected in the near future.
