Before Tesla began construction of Giga Shanghai, many doubted a factory would even be built, let alone in the timeline CEO Elon Musk was proposing.
But eleven months later, phase one of the factory was complete, and made-in-China Model 3’s soon began rolling off the production line.
Now with construction of their next Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany well underway, a local government minister thinks Tesla may be able to outdo their performance in China.
Joerg Steinbach, Economy Minster for the state of Brandenburg, made the comments on Sunday when speaking with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper (via Reuters).
“The goal at Tesla seems to be to beat the construction time for the Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai. According to my observation, this could very well succeed.”
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Tesla. Early on in the project, construction was halted due to a claim by local environmentalists around the deforestation. Work resumed quickly after a local judge dismissed the claim.
Tesla hopes to finish the factory in mid-2021, and eventually reach a production target of more than 500,000 vehicles per year. One of the first cars off the production line will be the Model Y, which Musk has previously said it will be built for European customers.
Use the slider below to see what Giga Berlin will look when complete, and the video below to see an update on construction as of August 1, 2020.
