Tesla opened Gigafactory Berlin in March 2022 and was able to ramp production quickly enough to add a second shift just two months later. The two shifts means new Model Y cars are rolling off the production line for 16 hours every day the factory is open.
The company was hoping to add a full third shift giving 24 hours of production throughout the factory before the end of the year.
Now it appears as though there will be another delay as Drive Tesla has learned a full third shift has been pushed into the early part of 2023.
According to a source familiar with the ongoing plans, Tesla is now targeting a full third shift at Giga Berlin for March 1, 2023.
You might notice we have been saying a full third shift. This is intentional because some parts of the factory are already operating with three shifts.
One of the reasons Tesla decided to push back plans for a full third shift is that the production ramp hasn’t been going as quickly as they planned.
The factory is currently producing between 1,500 and 2,000 new Model Ys per week, a figure which can be handled by the current number of employees working either the two or three shift system.
However, the current complement of employees can also handle more than double the current production volume, up to as many as 5,000 Model Ys per week.
This was the figure shared during the Q2 2022 earnings call by Drew Baglino, Tesla’s Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering. According to Baglino the company hoped to achieve that rate by the end of the year.
The good news is that this 5,000 per week figure is still a stated target and it is still attainable by the end of 2022.
Additionally, there have been no delays to Giga Berlin’s battery production plans. Construction on the battery plant is progressing and it is still expected to begin production of 4680 cells next year.
