Tesla Giga Berlin To Receive Final Approval This Week

The opening of Giga Berlin, the first Tesla plant in Europe, is getting closer: according to German press agencies, the factory will receive its final approval on Thursday or Friday this week; in fact, everything shows that Tesla is already preparing the opening ceremony itself, which will take place in less than three weeks.

The event will be attended by Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, as well as many German high-level officials: not confirmed yet, but it is expected that the German Minister of Economy, Mr. Robert Habeck, and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Christian Lindner will be there; and perhaps even current German Chancellor, Mr. Olaf Scholz.

At first, the plant was scheduled to begin operations in the summer of 2021; however, this date has been repeatedly postponed mainly due to bureaucratic problems with German authorities. As soon as it is up and running, Giga Berlin will become Tesla's fourth BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) factory after the Fremont plant (USA), Giga Shanghai (China) and Giga Texas (USA).

Although the state of Brandenburg has all the necessary documents for approval since the end of 2021, it was not until February 2022 that the authorities actually started working on the final permits. But even after the factory receives the green light, series production will still take a few weeks to start.

Located in Brandenburg, Giga Berlin will initially be responsible for producing the Model Y SUV, although later it is expected that its lines will also house the Model 3 sedan. In addition, Musk himself hinted a while ago that these facilities would be the most appropriate to produce a compact hatchback, although this model does not currently have a release date, according to Musk.

The capacity of the factory will be about 500,000 electric cars per year, although Tesla is expected to double this figure later on. Although Giga Berlin will initially have an external supply of batteries, later (early next year, apparently) it will start producing its own cells in 4680 format.

Unlike the units assembled in Giga Texas, the Giga Berlin Model Ys will not initially have structural batteries (a feature that will arrive in parallel with the start of cell production itself), although they will maintain the front and rear frames made from large pieces by using the Tesla Giga-Cast machines.

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.