Tesla is all geared up to open the Gigafactory Berlin doors for the citizens of Berlin and Brandenburg to visit one of the largest and most advanced electric vehicle manufacturing plants in the world.
Tesla has posted the following details of the event on its dedicated website for the event giga-fest.com:
Tesla opens the doors of its Gigafactory in Grünheide on October 9, 2021 and invites citizens of Berlin and Brandenburg to a County Fair. Join us to experience the most advanced electric vehicle production plant in the world.
You’ll have the opportunity to see behind the scenes during a Factory Tour, visit on-site booths, join various activities and ride along in Model Y—our newest electric car to arrive in Europe. Local food trucks will provide catering during the event.
Source: Giga-Fest.com
Tesla will also be providing Model Y test rides to the visitors of the Giga-Fest. Tesla is currently importing Model Y Long Range AWD variants from Gigafactory, Shanghai to fulfill the demand in Europe.
Giga Berlin will start Model Y production either at the end of this year or early 2022. Following the tradition at Tesla, the automaker will start production at the German plant with the top-end Model Y Performance variant then slowly transition towards lower-end trims.
Attending the Giga Fest
Giga-Fest.com, the official website for this event has labeled the occasion as a “County Fair” — and reading the event description above, Tesla is going to try to limit the gathering to the Berlin and Brandenburg residents.
Tesla was asking for a pre-registration on the Giga Fest website throughout September but as soon as the date turned to 1st October, the pre-registrations have been closed.
Tesla has now started sending emails to the pre-registration candidates saying we’re processing all the requests and will start to send confirmation emails from the start of October.
No one knows the exact criteria that Tesla will use to evaluate who participates in the event. But citizens of Berlin and Brandenburg will be given priority and most probably social media influencers and local observers of Giga Berlin.
Last month, for the first time, Tesla invited local media to take a detailed look at the Gigafactory Berlin from the inside. So media will also be there to share the success story with the rest of Germany and Europe.
Participants also need to read some important FAQs posted by Tesla before visiting the event to avoid a no entry and complying with the SOPs in place.
Tesla seeking waiver from COVID-19 rules
According to the news agency Reuters, Tesla is seeking a waiver from the COVID-19 rules to host the mass gathering of around 9,000 people at the Giga-Fest.
Tesla has learned a lot about the German bureaucracy since the start of the Giga Berlin construction last year, so it is possible that Tesla will be able to get this waiver from the local government.
Environmental Concerns
Tesla will also avail this golden opportunity to weed out the environmental concerns that some local environmentalist groups have been raising from time to time. First, it was cutting of Grünheide forest trees that halted the initial Giga Berlin ground preparation work.
Now, the issue is the high usage of groundwater and its contamination. Tesla will have to convince both the authorities and the general public that Giga Berlin will not be releasing toxic materials into the groundwater.
“Giga Berlin will build sustainable energy vehicles using sustainable energy, so the net environmental impact will be extremely positive,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk had already said this at the start of Giga Berlin construction last year.
“Sounds like we need to clear up a few things! Tesla won’t use this much net water on a daily basis. It’s possibly a rare peak usage case, but not an everyday event. Also, this is not a natural forest — it was planted for use as cardboard & only a small part will be used for GF4,” Musk also tweeted last year.
Latest Progress
Currently, Tesla is working on the digging and construction of various liquid chemicals and gas storage tanks. Tesla has gotten the approval for the construction of the following tanks:
- Liquid storage tanks for antifreeze and windshield washer fluid
- Gas tanks for Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide
- Tanks for sprinklers
However, Tesla has not yet received the approval for filling these tanks with these chemicals and gases. These approvals are needed to be obtained separately.
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