From the first sighting of a Model Y with a structural battery pack and 4680 cells to the announcement of Tesla GigaBeer (GigaBier), there was a lot of information to digest after the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg County Fair yesterday.
One of those pieces of information was contained on a display, which revealed how quickly the automaker can manufacture a car body with its revolutionary casting process.
In the body-in-white section of the factory, the display said one complete car body is produced every 45 seconds.
Extrapolate that out and Tesla is able to produce 700,000 car bodies per year at a 100% utilization rate. There will of course need to be some downtime for routine maintenance, among other things, but even at a 90% utilization rate that is more than 600,000 car bodies per year.
And that is just phase 1 of the factory.
When Will Giga Berlin Produce the First Cars?
Much to the delight of those in attendance, CEO Elon Musk made an appearance during the event. While talking to the crowd outside the factory, Musk said production at the factory should hopefully begin next month.
If that timeline holds, Musk added that the first customer deliveries would begin in December.
He also said that while it will be nice to finally start production, it is going to take a while for the site to reach volume production, which he said will take longer than it has to build the factory.
How much is Giga Berlin volume production? Musk said 5,000, or “hopefully 10,000” cars per week.
Tesla says their Giga Berlin body line makes one new Model Y body every 45 seconds.
That's up to 700,000 cars/year peak capacity in Phase 1 of Giga Berlin alteady!
Above 600k/year even with 10% maintenance downtime. https://t.co/Lf42tcGX4U pic.twitter.com/eZI7Yp3RDM
— Tesla Facts (@truth_tesla) October 9, 2021
