Tesla has received approval from the local environment ministry to commence the first stage of its expansion at Gigafactory Berlin, which is expected to significantly enhance the plant’s production capacity. According to Reuters, the ministry has greenlit the initial three phases of the expansion, which will include new logistics facilities, a battery cell testing and recycling lab, and additional storage infrastructure.
The expansion will utilize land that Tesla already owns and follows recent efforts by the company to clear trees in preparation for the project. Tesla’s application for the expansion, submitted in July 2023, has faced notable opposition from environmental activists and local residents. Activists have recently escalated their protests by camping and constructing treehouses in the wooded area designated for development.
The protests intensified when an undetonated World War II bomb was discovered near the factory, prompting authorities to conduct a thorough search of the site for any additional old munitions. Earlier this year, a non-binding local vote also indicated significant public opposition to tree-clearing efforts due to concerns about environmental impacts.
Approval for the expansion comes shortly after Plant Manager André Thierig highlighted the need for clear market signals before moving forward with such a significant investment. “We will not spend several billion on the expansion of the factory without the signals being clear that the market is asking for this,” Thierig noted. “We firmly believe that the market will pick up again. It is certainly a question of how quickly and when.”
The planned expansion is expected to boost Gigafactory Berlin’s annual production capacity from 500,000 vehicles to one million, positioning it as the most productive factory in Germany and surpassing Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg facility.
