German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inaugurated the factory on Tuesday alongside Elon Musk, boss of the manufacturer.
“Thank you, Germany! » Elon Musk shines in front of his first thirty German Teslas. Against the backdrop of techno music, he hands over the keys of these 100% electric Model Y SUVs to their owners. They were made here in Grünheide, near Berlin, in what is now Europe’s largest electric vehicle factory. On 300 hectares stand vast ultra-modern hangars. An army of robots is busy on the brand new production lines. Eventually, 500,000 vehicles should be produced there each year and 12,000 jobs created. Fully automated, the Grünheide factory is Tesla’s flagship in Europe, the showcase of its innovation.
Elon Musk arrived the day before from Texas by private jet. Like a pop star, the founder of Tesla is given a standing ovation by his employees, whom he calls on to “believe in the future”. Elon Musk is particularly proud of the “giga-press», the largest die-casting machine in the world. The site has eight of these mechanical monsters. Thanks to them, Tesla takes three times less time to produce its electric cars than its rival Volkswagen. Soon, vehicle batteries will be manufactured on site: the factory is under construction.
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From Elon Musk’s announcement of his choice of Grünheide to the opening of the site, only a little over two years have passed. Too long, for the taste of the businessman. It is however a record for the German administration which rolled out the red carpet for him, allowing him to advance the site without having all the authorizations.
” Become independent of Russian oil »
Grünheide should enable Tesla to carve out a place of choice in a European electric car market. In Germany alone, sales have doubled in one year. But the stakes go beyond the business of the Californian brand. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Green Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck came to greet Tesla’s six billion euro investment, presented by Habeck as a contribution to to become independent of Russian oil. To show that we are not only replacing Russian oil with oil from elsewhere but with electricity is a fine symbol. »
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This plant is a milestone in Germany’s transition to electromobility. “Elon Musk will transform Germany, judge car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. The country is entering the era of mass production of electric cars. » Its implementation would not put German manufacturers and subcontractors in danger, judges the specialist:“On the contrary, it pushes them to accelerate their transition and innovate more. »Message received at Volkswagen, which has just announced the construction of a factory dedicated to electricity, on the model of the Gigafactory. Work is due to start next year.