The Berlin-Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection (MLUK) granted the final approval to Tesla to start production at Giga Berlin last Friday (March 4, 2022).
This moment came after 843 days when Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the European Tesla factory will be built in Berlin, Germany on November 12, 2019. According to MLUK, the approval process took longer because Tesla added the 4680 cell production building to their application in addition to the Model Y factory.
According to the sources of the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) is planning to hand over the first Giga Berlin-made Tesla Model Y midsize electric SUVs to customers on March 22nd. Tesla is most probably going to hold a delivery event at Giga Berlin to celebrate the most-awaited occasion. Who knows Elon Musk might also join as he did on Giga Fest.
Related: Watch Elon Musk dance at the Giga Berlin Model Y delivery event (videos, pics, updates)
However, this final approval comes with a ton of conditions that the US-based electric automaker has to meet in order to start Tesla Model Y production at the factory. People familiar with the matter at Der Tagesspiegel believe that it will take Tesla around two weeks to comply with the conditions applied in the approval.
Minister for Economics, Labor and Energy of the State of Brandenburg Jorge Steinbach took to Twitter to celebrate this happy moment for his hometown, he stated the following (thanks a ton to Giga Berlin local observer and Tesla YouTuber Tobias Lindh for translating the statements on our special request):
Brandenburg can handle big investments! My thanks to participants on all sides. That Tesla is holding the approval in their Hands today is thanks to very well interleaving of the Brandenburg authorities.
With the Tesla factory in Grünheide, the business location Brandenburg is globally perceived much stronger. A new value chain of electric mobility is developing – and makes Brandenburg a pioneer state.
Jorge Steinbach via Twitter
It is astonishing to know that the documents of the final Giga Berlin approval by the government consist of 23,727 pages in 66 folders. This thorough documentation is the result of the approval process involving public participation, concerns by the environmentalist organizations, and the German bureaucracy.
Update:
Tesla has now officially started sending emails to its customers to prepare for deliveries of the Giga Berlin-made Model Y SUVs in the month of March 2022.
When this email popped up on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also pressed the like icon, so it is further established that deliveries will begin this month. This confirms that Tesla is on schedule to hold the delivery event on Mar 22nd.
Giga Berlin Construction Update
Tesla already had been making a lot of progress in terms of construction and development at Giga Berlin since last week. Tesla most probably was anticipating the final approval to come in on time.
In a previous approval, Tesla was allowed to make 2,000 Model Y test vehicles at the factory which the automaker started manufacturing soon after the permission. Last week, we reported the 1,000th Model Y produced at Giga Berlin, and coincidentally its VIN number had ELON in it (amazing).
During this past weekend after the final approval, Tobias Lindh spotted another large batch of Model Y SUVs in the parking lot of the factory. There are at least hundreds of Model Ys standing in these pictures (full drone video below).
Tobias Lindh summarized the construction and developments that he observed during the latest aerial drone coverage of Giga Berlin on 5th March:
The new parking lot in the south got asphalt, more street lights, and the fence got installed in the west. The new south road also has street lights now, another stairwell is getting prepared for graffiti, and road work continues to the east.
More roof panels installed on the wastewater treatment building and the central utility building are almost closed. The area next to the wastewater treatment building with the 8 superchargers was paved with asphalt and the roof of the tank farm is finished.
The temporary wastewater plant expanding and a lot of Model Ys are parked on site.
Concrete was poured at the formation section of the cell production building and some concrete walls were installed. The cell production building also got more walls.
A new road is getting built in the east and the trash site moved to the new area near the retention basins. Preparations started for the new distribution area, a new area with unknown purpose was covered with gravel and the rest of the trailer yard was paved with asphalt.
Tobias Lindh on YouTube
Related:
- Tesla Semi program: factory update, 46 new Megachargers, volume production to start in 2026
- Tesla (TSLA) produces 500,000th Model Y at Giga Berlin after starting 3 years ago
- Tesla (TSLA) to expand 4680 cell manufacturing at the Fremont factory, new job openings suggest
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