Tesla hosts festival at Berlin gigafactory to announce start of production by December – TechCrunch



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Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday kicked off a rage in Berlin’s new gigafactory – with bright lights, techno music, a Ferris wheel, carousel, arcade and vegetarian food trucks – to announce the start of production at the disputed site which has been the subject of legal action by environmental groups.

“We’re aiming to start production in a few months, basically, November or December, and hope to deliver our first cars in December,” Musk said at the event to the applause of thousands of fans. “But starting production is kind of the easy part. The hardest part is achieving volume production.

Volume production stands at 5,000 or “hopefully 10,000” vehicles per week, Musk said. The factory is expected to manufacture Model Y vehicles in addition to millions of battery cells. Tesla has submitted plans to invest around $ 5.8 billion in a 50 GWh capacity battery plant next to the 300 acre site, and Musk has pledged volume production of battery cells by the next. end of the year. Volkswagen’s planned plant in Salzgitter is expected to produce a capacity of 40 GWh.

The construction of the Tesla gigafactory in Berlin-Brandenburg, which was granted two years ago by the authorities under an exceptional procedure, is nearing completion, despite opposition from residents who are delaying the final approval of the ‘factory due to environmental concerns. Musk’s exaggerated event appears to be an attempt to win over the natives, an almost cartoonish move reminiscent of Strange thingsMayor Kline held an Independence Day festival to gain votes and distract from Russians he had leased land to in order to open another otherworldly portal.

In June, the Finnish political party the Green League and the Union for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity of Brandenburg lodged a complaint for the immediate cessation of machine tests in the paint shop, foundry and l ‘factory press shop due to chemical leaks and other environmental damage. Last year, work on the site was temporarily suspended when NGOs filed for an injunction to protect the nearby natural habitat of some endangered lizards and snakes.

Locals have filed more than 800 complaints that are being discussed through an online resident consultation process, which is scheduled to end Oct. 14, according to Bloomberg. Only then will the environmental authorities make a final decision on approval.

Despite the hindsight, Tesla has a 95% chance of getting factory approval, according to the Brandenburg Minister of the Economy. The Tesla factory, which is currently recruiting heavily across Europe, is favored by many political parties across the country who see it as a major economic boost for East Germany.

Musk defended the plant against criticism saying it used “relatively little” water and that battery production would be “sustainable.”

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