The German Berlin Gigafactory, which made Tesla CEO Musk wait 9 months longer than originally thought, finally ushered in the opening ceremony at 23:00 Beijing time on March 22, and the first Tesla Model Y produced by the factory was also delivered at the same time. The $5 billion factory is not only Tesla's first factory in Europe, but also marks that Tesla has penetrated into the hinterland of German auto giants such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen, and has become an important milestone in Tesla's development process.
The completion and commissioning of each Tesla Gigafactory will not only greatly improve the delivery efficiency, but also have a positive impact on the development of the local economy and industry, so the Berlin Gigafactory has attracted the attention of the German Chancellor and all walks of life in Germany.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the Tesla opening ceremony and witnessed the launch of Europe's first and the world's fourth Tesla Gigafactory with Musk.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (left) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right)
Musk said at the scene: "Tesla will ensure that this factory is a jewel for the region, Germany, Europe and the world." Every car we build will be another step towards a sustainable energy future. We are extremely confident that the world can transition to a sustainable energy future through a combination of solar, wind, energy storage batteries and electric vehicles. ”
Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory is one of the largest investment projects in the history of the German automotive industry in recent years. Hilegard Müller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), said: "German automakers should accept the challenge posed by Tesla and put German cars on the road to the era of electric vehicles. ”
Musk has previously said that the Berlin plant will have nearly 10,000 jobs, which will significantly increase the number of jobs in categories such as human resources, operations and business support, supply chain, environment, health and safety, engineering and information technology, and energy-solar and storage in addition to manufacturing.
The first German-made Tesla Model Y was delivered
Dominate the European electric vehicle market
At the celebration of the new car rolling off the production line at Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory, Musk personally handed over 30 new Model Y Performance cars to users.
Tesla first announced in November 2019 that it would build Tesla's first European gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, responsible for assembling vehicles, producing batteries and electric drive systems, and the plan was to start construction in early 2021 and complete production by the end of 2021.
However, the plan could not keep up with the changes, limited to many local production and environmental regulations, as well as a long government environmental impact assessment process, coupled with the doubts of many environmental groups, resulting in the Berlin Gigafactory in Germany could not finally start operation in 2021 as scheduled, had to spend more than 800 days, and finally officially put into operation under the influence of overcoming many unfavorable factors.
The Next Gigafactory in Berlin is expected to produce 500,000 Model 3 and Model Y units per year for the global market.
Since the capacity of the Berlin Gigafactory has not yet been fully invested, only the Model Y Performance High Performance Version will be produced initially, which is equipped with a 2170 battery and has not yet applied the latest 4680 battery. The new car was produced using a one-piece die-casting process for better body safety and sound insulation, a design that significantly shortened the production cycle and reduced the number of body parts by 370. In the introduction of the Berlin plant, the production of a Model Y body takes an average of only 45 seconds.
In order to further expand the advantages of European local manufacturing, Musk is also interested in building the Berlin factory into the world's largest power battery factory, with an annual output of more than 250GWh, and the cost of car manufacturing will be further explored.
Tesla Berlin factory
The Berlin Gigafactory, Tesla's first factory in Europe and its fourth in the world, will focus on Tesla and is expected to regain the top spot in the European electric vehicle market.
Looking back at 2019, Tesla once dominated Europe, with annual sales of more than 109,000 vehicles, with a market share of more than 31%, but since 2020, the Competition in the European Electric Vehicle Market has intensified, and Tesla's sales have begun to lag behind traditional car companies such as Volkswagen.
According to Schmidt Automotive Research, Tesla's European market share is 14 percent, behind Volkswagen's 25 percent and The Stellantis Group's 14.4 percent. In January this year, Volkswagen firmly ranked as the european electric vehicle market leader, with new car sales of about 10,193 units, a market share of more than 22%, Stellantis, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors ranked second and third respectively, with tesla Berlin gigafactory capacity increased, the ranking may change.
Today, Tesla has successfully penetrated into the hinterland of German automakers, posing a certain competition and stimulation for these powerful established car companies. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen Group, said last week that Tesla would certainly be Volkswagen's most important competitor. Musk praised German engineering, saying, "Everyone knows that German craftsmanship is excellent, that's for sure." That's part of the reason we're basing our gigafactories in Germany. ”
Body building workshop at the Berlin plant
In 2021, Tesla's full range of vehicle deliveries reached 936,000 units, an increase of 87% year-on-year. Analysts said supply chain issues dragged down Tesla's overall sales growth last year, but this year the problem will be significantly alleviated, and this year's sales are expected to rush to more than 1.5 million vehicles. Demand for the Model Y in the European market is heating up rapidly, which seems to be a breakthrough year for Tesla and the electric car industry.
The opening of the Berlin plant shows China's advantages
China is the world's largest new energy vehicle market, and about half of the world's new energy vehicles will be sold in the Chinese market in 2021.
Since the completion and operation of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory in 2019, the localization rate has exceeded 90%, driving the development of Lingang, Shanghai and surrounding areas, greatly improving the employment rate, and also bringing successful experience and new vitality to the development of China's new energy industry.
The most surprising thing about the Shanghai Gigafactory is the speed of construction, when it took only 15 months to complete and start production, with more than 150,000 units produced in its first year.
In contrast, the Berlin Gigafactory took about 25 months to complete, while the Austin, Texas, plant took about 22 months to build.
Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory
On October 25, 2021, Tesla Shanghai R&D Innovation Center and Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory Data Center were officially completed and put into use, which is Tesla's first overseas vehicle R&D center, and a further step in Tesla's localization process in China. At present, Tesla will also accelerate the landing of China's second factory and drive the continuous improvement of the new energy vehicle industry chain.
China remains Tesla's key growth force, with more than 480,000 of the 936,000 teslas delivered in 2021 being built in China.
Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory is expected to produce as many as 900,000 vehicles in 2022, accounting for about 60 percent of Tesla's total shipments of 1.5 million vehicles this year, while the Berlin plant in Germany could produce about 100,000 vehicles this year.
At present, the sales of the high-performance version in the Model Y series are relatively low, in other words, most of the Model Y in the European market still depends on the export supply of the Shanghai Gigafactory in China.
Tesla's "Shanghai experience" fully proves why China has become a leader in the global new energy automobile industry. In the long run, the commissioning of Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory will eventually help boost the development level of the new energy vehicle industry in Germany and even in Europe.