On Saturday, Tesla hosted a festival at its nearly completed Berlin Brandenburg factory.
The Norwegian Tesla Owners’ Club received ten tickets to the event, and one of the participants was regulatory advisor Roger Culpo.
He saw the massive casting machines that would make the front and rear of the Model Y body in complete pieces. Eventually, one body would be built every 45 seconds at the factory, Tesla wrote on one of the factory posters.
Kolbu also saw the upcoming 4,680 battery cells and how they would be included as a structural part of the vehicle. See his photo at the top of the case.
Tesla President Elon Musk was there to answer questions from the audience.
Starting this year
He said they hope to start production at the plant during November or December, and deliver the first cars during December. At the same time, he noted several times that the start of production is good, but it is really difficult to achieve scale production.
He said that Tesla will gradually increase production to reach a volume of 5,000 to 10,000 cars per week by the end of 2022.
The plant will supply cars to the whole of Europe.
Musk said the first Berlin cars will likely get battery cells from China. It probably has the same 2170 format as today’s Model 3 and Y. Tesla doesn’t make 4,680 cells in China.
During 2022, Tesla will build a production of the 4680 battery in Berlin, so one can expect such batteries in cars produced at the end of next year.
Musk was also asked when the fully autonomous driving program and Tesla’s solar cells would arrive in Europe. He replied that he hoped this would happen next year.
public courtship
In addition to casting machines and skeleton batteries, Musk also boasted an advanced paint workshop at the Berlin factory. Musk believes it will be the best painting workshop in the world. We should note that Tesla has previously been criticized for the quality of the car’s paint.
Kolbu was even more impressed with the openness that a normally closed company displayed.
– At the exhibitions of the Tesla factory, there are usually significant restrictions and a complete ban on photos. Here it was just the opposite. He says: We got almost free access to the factory.
The festival was complete with its own DJ, a Ferris wheel and a large selection of food, beer and wine tents. Younger kids can try out miniature versions of the Teslas on their own racetrack, while older kids can ride in a Y-style acceleration test, says Kolbu.
Musk said, among other things, that the plant will place solar cells on its roof and around the plant. In the long run, it will only be powered by renewable energy. A separate train station will also be built. In response to a question from the audience, Musk confirmed that they will establish a kindergarten for the children of employees.
Kolbu believes the reason for Tesla’s overt courtship is threefold: First, Tesla has had so many years on its back that it doesn’t rely on much secrecy. At the same time they want to gain the trust of the citizens. Third, the car factory wants to attract local labor, so being open about the factory’s work is important.
Media: Volkswagen in crisis meeting
The construction process has been delayed several times due to objections from interest groups, and final approval for the plant is still not available. It should come fairly quickly if Musk’s plan to start in 2021 is to hold out.
German production plans for Mask were according to interested in trade (BI) prompted Volkswagen CEO Herbert Dies to hold an emergency meeting with 120 of the company’s executives recently. Here, Des is said to have said the group is under increasing pressure and losing productivity. The newspaper wrote that the Tesla Model 3 was built in ten hours, three times faster than the Volkswagen ID.
According to BI, Diess wants to rebuild VW’s largest plant, located in Wolfsburg, and make operations more efficient.
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