Some six months after the opening of Tesla's first electric vehicle assembly plant in Europe, the US EV maker has organized an information day event at the Grünheide, Germany facility on September 11.
Attended by more than 500 people, the open-door event allowed participants to ask questions about the factory's logistics concept, water supply, protection of the environment and water bodies, planned battery cell production, planned expansion of the area and more.
Tesla employees provided information on all these topics at 14 stands and visitors were also offered test drives and even mini Teslas for their children.
The company says the ramp-up of production at Giga Berlin-Brandenburg is progressing "very well," although it did not reveal how many cars the plant is currently making each week. In June, Tesla said the plant was building 1,000 vehicles a week, which is about a tenth of the full capacity of 500,000 vehicles a year.
Gallery: Tesla Giga Berlin (Tesla Gigafactory 4)
According to information obtained by DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), the company targets a weekly production of 5,000 vehicles by the first quarter of 2023. If accurate, that would account for a spectacular production increase and would allow Tesla to boost deliveries even further in Europe where the Model Y was the best-selling electric vehicle model in the first half of 2022.
During the open-door event, Tesla said that reducing fresh water consumption at the factory remains a key objective. According to the company, around 2.2 cubic meters of fresh water are used per car, and the figure already includes the planned in-house battery production in Grünheide.
Tesla said it can reduce consumption by using hybrid cooling towers or dry cleaning of system parts, among other solutions. Giga Berlin-Brandenburg's 2.2 cubic meters of fresh water per car is significantly below the industry average of water consumption, which Tesla says it's almost 4 cubic meters of fresh water per vehicle.
Another update offered during the information day event regards the opening of a train shuttle to the plant, which is scheduled for spring 2023. As for the site's new battery factory, it is unclear when it will open.
