Tesla’s Gigafactory Delivers its First 30 Vehicles

Tesla’s German Gigafactory has started handing over cars to customers after a delay of nearly nine months. The Berlin-Brandenburg factory in the town of Grünheide near Berlin was scheduled to open on July 1, 2021, but was postponed due to issues and protests from local environmentalists.

This factory is Tesla's first factory in Europe and holds the key to the company's expansion plans. Tesla said in a press release that it hopes to eventually produce 500,000 vehicles a year at the new Gigafactory.

Tesla has delivered 30 Model Y vehicles on its first day of production. The company said that 3,000 employees have started production at the factory and plan to hire thousands more employees in the coming months. The factory can accommodate a maximum of about 12,000 workers per Tesla. 

The company won conditional approval to start the production at the plant this month, under which it is required to meet local requirements on air pollution and water usage. 

Tesla has been delivering cars to its European customers from its Shanghai plant, which according to Dan Ives involved “Rubik’s Cube logistics” and was ultimately unsustainable. He further said that the opening of the Berlin plant, plus the planned opening of a new Tesla factory in Austin and Texas will help to alleviate supply bottlenecks for the automaker.