EVwire brief: Tesla is preparing to file plans for a second production hall at Giga Berlin, with the new building set to be more than twice the size of the factory's existing hall.
The new hall would be built north of the current plant and measure about 536,000 m² (~5.77 million sq ft), compared with roughly 219,000 m² (~2.36 million sq ft) for the existing production hall. Tesla's long-term goal is to produce up to 1 million vehicles per year in Grünheide.
Tesla plans to submit the permit application for the northern production building in December. Construction could start in 2027.
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Tesla noted in a statement that the expansion is not new, as it was already outlined in the company's 2023 application for Giga Berlin:
"As early as 2023, Tesla outlined the phased expansion of the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in its application for partial approval and detailed the associated environmental impacts. […] The proposed partial approval application for the northern production building builds upon this. Once the permit is granted, it will enable the construction of this building."
The 2023 application split the expansion into three partial permits. The first, granted by Brandenburg's State Office for the Environment (LfU) in October 2024, covered the modernization of the existing hall and additional storage and logistics space.
The second covers the new production hall, which would have a production area comparable to the current hall, with the remaining space initially used for storage and logistics. The third includes a freight yard on the factory grounds.
Alongside the new hall, Tesla's December filing is expected to include a dedicated substation and an expanded wastewater setup. Water has been a sensitive issue in Grünheide since Tesla first broke ground.
The company has responded by using far less water than initially expected and equipping the plant with a world-class water treatment facility. Tesla is now planning an additional water cycle with a new on-site treatment plant that would also handle sanitary wastewater.
This means that even with a bigger factory and more workers, the freshwater and wastewater volumes Tesla has already agreed on with the Strausberg-Erkner Water Association (WSE) should remain sufficient for the expansion. Tesla briefed mayors from the WSE region and association representatives on the plans this week, followed by representatives of several environmental groups.
Tesla has not commented on how many additional employees the expansion could require. Previous plans for the site mentioned up to 42,000 workers in the long term.
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Context:
The expansion plans come as Giga Berlin is already ramping up at a rapid pace. Plant manager André Thierig outlined a target of 7,500 vehicles per week in June. At the time the factory was building about 5,000 and Tesla hired 1,000 more workers to work there. Tesla has since ordered extra shifts in September to close the gap, with the plant now producing around 6,500 vehicles per week.
Battery production in Grünheide is growing just as quickly. Tesla is investing an additional $250 million in 4680 cell production at the site, raising its planned capacity from 8 GWh to 18 GWh per year. Cell production is targeted to start in 2027. This means that the new hall would build on a factory that is already expanding on both the vehicle and battery side, with a workforce that is now approaching 12,000 employees.
Source: rbb24
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