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Elon Musk made an appearance at the recently held county fair-style Giga Fest at the Gigafactory Berlin site in Grunheide in Germany’s Brandenburg state on Saturday. The Tesla CEO announced they are eyeing to start vehicle production as soon as next month, while the planned battery plant could start volume production by late 2022.
“We’re aiming to start production in a few months, basically, November or December,” Musk said at the event (via TechCrunch). The Tesla CEO added that the first Giga Berlin-produced vehicles could be available for delivery as early as December. But Musk noted that starting production is the “easy part” and added, “The hard part is reaching volume production.”
By volume production, Musk means Giga Berlin would be capable of producing 5,000 or up to 10,000 vehicles per week. Tesla is also planning to establish a 50 GWh battery plant near Giga Berlin with a $5.8 billion investment. But it is not expected to achieve volume production until late 2022.
Despite its name, Giga Berlin is situated in a 300-hectare site about 35 kilometers or 20 miles from central Berlin. Tesla announced it chose the location for its Europe-based factory in 2019, and early construction followed in early 2020. Since then, it has faced multiple contentions from residents and local organizations concerned about the Tesla plant’s potential environmental impact in the area.
While Musk said they are eyeing to begin Tesla Model Y production at Giga Berlin as early as November, it is worth noting that the factory is still awaiting final approval from authorities. Bloomberg reports there have been more than 800 petitions against Giga Berlin’s operations that are still in discussions through public consultation. Local officials cannot move forward to deciding on the final approval for the Tesla site until the consultation process wraps up on Thursday, Oct. 14.
It appears that Musk is not the only one anticipating getting the final approval for Giga Berlin to operate soon. Brandenburg's economy minister says there is a 95 percent chance Tesla’s factory will be eventually allowed to start production, Reuters reports.
