Tesla’s German Gigafactory Could Be Ready To Deliver Ahead Of Schedule

European reservation holders of Tesla’s Model Y could begin to receive their vehicles manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin earlier than expected, Teslarati reports, citing a tip from one reservation holder.

Tesla is currently building its Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, where it will make the Model 3 and Model Y, with deliveries expected to begin at some point next year. Tesla had previously said that Model Y production in Berlin would begin sometime in H2 2021.

“This morning, I got a call from Tesla in the Netherlands with some questions on my order. In that conversation, the Tesla employee told me that they expect to deliver my Berlin build model Y in Q1 or Q2 of 2021. They had just received an internal update on the building process in Berlin,” the reservation holder told Teslarati this week. 

In its Q3 earnings release, Tesla said that “Construction of the Gigafactory in Berlin continues to progress rapidly. Buildings are under construction and equipment move-in will start over the coming weeks. At the same time, the Giga Berlin team continues to grow. Production is expected to start in 2021.”

“We are currently building Model Y capacity at Gigafactory Shanghai, Gigafactory Berlin and Gigafactory Texas, and remain on track to start deliveries from each location in 2021,” the EV maker noted.

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“I should make a point that for Berlin and Austin, we do expect to start delivering cars from those factories next year. But because of the exponential nature of the spool up of a manufacturing plant, especially one with new technology, it will start off very slow at first and then become very — upward,” Elon Musk said on the company’s Q3 earnings call last week.

The Berlin Gigfactory will also be Tesla’s first battery cell production line at scale, Musk noted.

Earlier this month, Musk said on Twitter that the Berlin Gigafactory would use a new more efficient battery and, “Lot of new technology will happen in Berlin, which means significant production risk.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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