The Tesla gigafactory in Grunheide, near Berlin, opened its doors to the public on Tuesday and began shipping electric vehicles.
Reuters reported that the first 30 Model Y Performance configuration vehicles will be delivered to customers on Tuesday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Elon Musk will attend the official launch event for the new production facility, which is expected to create 12,000 new jobs in the area. So far, Tesla has filled 3,000 of those positions.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Monday he was eager to give Giga Berlin-Brandenburg’s first production cars to customers tomorrow.
Gigafactories may be a huge boost for the local economy, but they are sure to cause concern for German car manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes. Tesla intends to produce 500,000 electric vehicles per year at Grunheide, while Volkswagen sold only 450,000 EVs globally last year. Although Tesla’s production will ramp up slowly, it isn’t expected to reach 500,000 vehicles until 2025.
Excited to hand over the first production cars made by Giga Berlin-Brandenburg tomorrow!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2022
Musk wanted the gigafactory to start producing vehicles by November last year, but Tesla needed permission from the German authorities. However, it took until March 4 this year for that permission to be given following several demands involving meeting environmental conditions.