Tesla News: Electric Vehicle Giant Hopes To Produce 500,000 Vehicles Per Year At Berlin Factory

Electric vehicle company Tesla hopes to make 500,000 vehicles per year at its factory near Berlin, according to planning documents released Friday. The factory will be located in the Grunheide municipality southeast of the German capital, with Tesla hoping to begin operations at the plant in July 2021.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had announced the “Gigafactory 4” in November. The factory will produce Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, with construction on the factory to begin in the first six months of 2020.

"Everyone knows German engineering is outstanding for sure. You know that is part of the reason why we are locating Gigafactory Europe in Germany," Musk said while visiting an automobile awards show in the German capital.

The factory will allow Tesla to have better access to the German market, with the German government recently expanding subsidies for consumers to buy electric vehicles in the country. Tesla will also be able to better capitalize on its success in European countries such as Norway and the Netherlands, with the two countries both seeing strong sales of Tesla vehicles in 2019.

Tesla recently inaugurated its Shanghai factory, making its first automobile deliveries at the beginning of this year. Production at the factory is vastly cheaper for Tesla, and will allow the company to expand its operations in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market. The factory is being financed by loans from Chinese state banks and will allow Tesla to circumvent Chinese import tariffs.