Tesla has submitted the first application to the State Office for the Environment for the expansion of Giga Berlin. The company intends to expand production capacity from the current 500,000 to one million vehicles per year.
The application however only involves changes to the existing plant in Grünheide, Germany to further ramp up production. Everything that is required to increase production to 1 million cars per year will be set up in existing facilities, according to the permit application.
Given the troubles Tesla has had with environmentalists over water supply in the region, the automaker said this expansion will require no additional water supply. Tesla will be able to accomplish this by treatment and reuse of water during production.
“[Tesla has] optimized planning and production processes in such a way that the amounts of fresh water previously used as a basis and contractually agreed are also sufficient for this expansion,” the application said. (via rbb24)
The application for the plant expansion comes as no surprise as Tesla intended to submit the application for the expansion of its factory in Grünheide before the end of 2022.
Currently, Tesla produces about 4,000 Model Y SUVs every week, or about 200,000 a year. The workforce now comprises about 10,000 employees and is expected to reach 12,000 in the first expansion phase. As we have previously reported, the expansion involves 70 hectares north of the site, and Tesla would have to reapply for the expansion of the factory itself.
In addition to the plant expansion, Tesla announced plans in September 2022 for a new logistics center, including a freight station, which will be built outside the existing site on about 100 hectares of land to the east. Tesla initiated the latter expansion process in May 2022.
