On Mar. 22, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has officially opened the automaker's first manufacturing facility in Europe.
The opening of its factory in Germany is a way for the automaker to take the pressure off of its other major factories in China and the United States.
Tesla Opens First Facility in Europe
To celebrate the opening of the facility in Germany, Musk danced while he presided over the delivery of Tesla's first German-made cars to 30 clients and their families at the automaker's $5.5 billion plant.
According to Reuters, Musk called the launch another step in the direction of a sustainable future. The Tesla CEO and billionaire revived memories of the firm's Shanghai factory launch back in 2020, where he also danced during the reveal.
Musk is expected to cut a red ribbon at the new Giga Berlin factory, located in Grunheide, a coal town in Brandenburg, Germany, and near the country's capital.
In 2021, Tesla Giga Berlin faced a delay in construction after the State Environmental Agency and the Brandenburg Administrative Court re-opened the plant's discussion.
However, not everyone is in favor of Giga Berlin. Several protestors gathered outside the facility during its launch on Mar. 22 to raise their concerns about the site's environmental impact.
According to CNBC, the protestors are worried that the plant will use too much water, and they are not pleased with the number of trees that had to be cut down to build the facility in the area.
High demand for Electric Vehicles
Tesla sees the Berlin factory producing 500,000 electric vehicles every year despite the protest. According to the Auto Motor Und Sports publication in Germany, the Tesla plant is targeting an output of 2,000 electric cars in its first few weeks of production.
Troy Teslike, a Twitter account that posts updates about Tesla, said that the firm is hoping that the vehicle output will hit 1,000 every week at the first six weeks after starting the site's commercial production. The firm also aims to increase the output to 5,000 every week by the end of the year.
1/ Giga Berlin
— Troy Teslike (@TroyTeslike) March 22, 2022
Since we are so close to the delivery ceremony tomorrow, here is a summary of Giga Berlin.
The current building has one production line with 500,000 units per year of production capacity. In terms of the building size, this is Tesla's smallest car factory. pic.twitter.com/cYso10dMmf
The electric vehicle maker has been struggling to keep up with demand, and there are delays for Tesla Model Ys and Tesla Model 3s in the other parts of the world.
Last week, Tesla had to temporarily shut production at its Shanghai factory because of the sudden increase in COVID-19 cases in the country. That limited the production of the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y vehicles for two days.
In the past three months, Tesla has been exporting cars from China to their customers in Europe. The demand for electric vehicles remains very high in Europe, and now Tesla can rely on some production on the continent, not solely to be shipped from China.
The Giga Berlin has been years in the making. It is very important to Tesla's plans to expand globally after opening its Gigafactory 3 plant in Shanghai back in 2019.
The automaker has also begun the Model Y production at another factory in Austin, Texas, but Tesla is yet to hold a grand opening for the site.
In November 2019, when Musk announced plans to build a factory in Germany, he acknowledged the skills of German engineering.
Last week, Tesla announced Giga Berlin would feature more graffiti art in the German plant.
