In 2019, it turns out that Tesla has finally chosen Germany, including Grünheide to the east of Berlin, to be home to its first European factory. The plant has since been rebuilt, but production has yet to start. The production line, called the Gigafactory, will produce the cars and batteries once Tesla receives approval from local authorities.
Elon Musk visited Germany over the weekend, where he took to the stage at the premiere of his first European factory. Musk said their goal is to start production at the Grünheide Gigafactory before the end of this year. If successful, by the end of 2022, five to eleven thousand Tesla Model Y cars per week could be produced using the “machine that collects machines” – Musk said. At full capacity, half a million Tesla will be produced in Germany each year, employing 12,000 people at the plant.
For now, Tesla is waiting for German authorities to review and assess its impact on the factory environment. The European Gigafactory project, which is in its final phase of construction, has been delayed and postponed several times due to complaints from environmental groups in the affected area about the plant’s water use and disturbance to wildlife. Musk said Saturday that more trees will be planted than had to be cut down due to the plant’s construction, and that they are trying to use as little water as possible.
Hungary was also competing for the European factory of Tesla. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been lobbying for the project since 2015, and in 2019 a specially designed test track for self-driving cars was built in Zlagerzig as part of a HUF 45 billion project. The government hopes that the Zala district and Hungary will thus become one of the centers for the development of self-driving cars and return the money invested in eight years. According to a previous analysis, the investment would take 106 years instead of the desired eight.
