Tesla Officially Opens Factory in Germany to Distribute EVs Before 2021 Ends

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 10 October 2021, 03:10 pm

Tesla's new Gigafactory near Berlin was opened this weekend, and the company's CEO, Elon Musk, was present. Tesla wants to start the production of its Model Y cars there before the end of 2021.

Tesla Opens Gigafactory in Germany

Musk added that he wants the Gigafactory to produce up to 10,000 electric vehicles every week by the end of 2022, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla is still waiting for the final approval for the permit for the plant, as local authorities evaluate the environmental impact on the area.

To celebrate the plant's opening, the company held a Giga-Fest county fair-style event in Gruenheide on Oct. 10. The festival included rides, music, food trucks, and tours of the new plan for local residents.

Tesla's Gigafactory in Germany is in the final phases of its construction after it was delayed several times by complaints from activists and environmental groups in the area concerned about the plant's water use and disruption to the wildlife around it, according to The Verge.

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Musk said that the company would plant more trees than it cut down during the plant's construction and use as little water as possible at the plant.

The plant was first announced back in 2019, and the company stated that it would locate its European Gigafacory in Germany. The Gigafactory was referred to as the "machine that builds the machine."

The automaker also said that it aims to produce at least 500,000 vehicles every year and that it will hire 12,000 employees to operate the plant.

Tesla's Gigafactory

The Gigafactory in Germany is Tesla's fourth plant. The third Gigfactory was constructed just outside Shanghai, China. The second Gigafactory is in Buffalo, New York, and the state revealed that the value of the plant is $800 million.

Telsa's first-ever Gigafactory opened in 2016 outside Reno, Nevada.

Musk revealed the plans about opening the plant in Germany when he received the Golden Steering Wheel award from Auto Build, a German auto publication. He revealed that they decided to build the fourth plant in Berlin because Germany gripped the auto industry.

Musk has spent years choosing where to build the fourth plant, and he revealed that he wants to build up to 12 Gigafactories around the world.

In an earnings report in 2019, the company revealed that the Gigafactory would be operational this year. The company revealed that it would be similar to the Shanghai plant since it would be producing Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers.

The new factory outside Germany is not Tesla's fourth plant overall. The company is currently assembling all of its vehicles at a former Toyota plant in Fremont, California. It also operates its seat factory in a plant near Fremont, and it has been building another factory in Lathrop, California.

Tesla's plant in Nevada was the focus of an investigation that was released by USA Today in November 2019, which found the facility affected the local resources around it and brought numerous complications to the area.