Tesla’s Giga Berlin runs in three shifts

Production at the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, now runs in three shifts. Additional shifts are already being considered to increase output further. In addition to the Model Y, the carmaker could start building a second model there.

Jochem Freyer from the employment agency in Frankfurt (Oder) spoke to the local radio- and TV station RBB, saying that the company has found skilled workers for a third shift. “First of all, production will be optimised and then Tesla could decide on a fourth shift at a later date,” Freyer told RBB. That could apparently be an additional shift on the weekend.

Tesla currently employs about 10,000 people in Grünheide. At the end of March, Tesla reached a production level of 5,000 vehicles per week – exactly one year after the opening of its ‘Giga Berlin.’ Extrapolated, this results in an annual production of 250,000 vehicles per year.

But there is still room for improvement, as Tesla wants to make 500,000 EVs there after the first expansion phase. Once the site is fully expanded, it is said to produce one million cars per year. However, it is not clear when the second expansion will take place.

Tesla currently only builds the Model Y in Grünheide. Initially, only the performance version was manufactured in Brandenburg. Now the long-range model is also produced there. Only the basic Model Y with the LFP battery and rear-wheel drive is still imported from Giga Shanghai; the all-wheel drive models sold in Europe come from Grünheide.

However, the increase in production to 500,000 and later one million units will probably not only be achieved with the Model Y; Elon Musk already mentioned a possible second model in the past. According to the latest media reports from China, this is likely to be the European production of the upcoming compact model.

rbb24.de (in German)