BERLIN (Reuters) – Tesla will on Tuesday hand the first Model Y automobiles made at its 5 billion euro ($5.5 billion) Gruenheide plant to shoppers, launching its first European manufacturing hub with the largest funding in a German automotive manufacturing unit in current historical past.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will attend Tuesday’s ceremony alongside Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, marking a second Musk had hoped would occur eight months in the past however native authorities say has come comparatively shortly for a undertaking of its dimension.
The opening comes as Musk has flagged Master Plan Part 3 for Tesla, which he stated will map out scaling Tesla to “excessive dimension”.
With plans to rent 12,000 staff, the German gigafactory and adjoining battery plant will change into the largest employer within the German state of Brandenburg, the place it’s primarily based.
At full capability, it’s going to produce 500,000 automobiles yearly – greater than the 450,000 battery-electric autos that fundamental rival Volkswagen offered globally in 2021 – and generate 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery energy, surpassing all different crops within the nation.
For now, Volkswagen holds the higher hand in Europe’s electrical automobile market, with a 25% market share to Tesla’s 13%. Musk has warned that ramping up manufacturing will take longer than the 2 years it took to construct the plant.
JPMorgan predicted Gruenheide would produce round 54,000 automobiles in 2022, growing to 280,000 in 2023 and 500,000 by 2025.
Volkswagen, which has already obtained orders for 95,000 battery electrical autos in Europe this yr, is planning a brand new 2 billion euro EV plant alongside its Wolfsburg manufacturing unit and 6 battery crops throughout Europe.
But its timeline lags Tesla’s, with the EV manufacturing unit to open in 2026 and the first battery plant in 2023.
Tesla obtained the ultimate go-ahead from native authorities on March 4 to start manufacturing, supplied it met a number of circumstances on points together with water use and air air pollution management.
The carmaker got here near shedding its water provide contract when native environmental teams filed a grievance towards the environmental ministry difficult the licence it granted to Tesla’s water provider.
The court docket in the end dominated that water extraction may go forward, supplied the ministry carried out a brand new public session.
The environmental teams might enchantment the choice. Even if they do not, citizen initiatives have stated they stand able to oppose Tesla’s deliberate enlargement, citing all the things from gentle air pollution to water issues.
($1 = 0.9048 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Jan Harvey)
