Tesla’s Gigafactories are massive in every sense of the word. They require tons of people and space and resources, but they also seem to come together and become operational a lot faster than you might expect. Except, that is, for Tesla’s first European Gigafactory outside Berlin, which has been languishing in bureaucracy for months. Only now, according to a report published Friday by Reuters, that’s mostly changing.
I say mostly because, while the German government has given Tesla the go-ahead to continue construction in Brandenburg, that permission is conditional. This means that it can finish construction, but in order to get an operation permit, Tesla has to prove that it meets German standards for air and water pollution control, among other things, and friend, you know those standards are probably exacting.
The German Gigafactory is key to Tesla’s plan for taking a big, juicy bite out of the Volkswagen Group’s EV market share in Europe. Building vehicles locally would likely help Tesla by making them more cost-effective to produce, thanks to reduced shipping costs, as well as quicker to deliver to customers since the cars won’t have to come all the way from Shanghai.
Tesla claims that it will show German officials the proof they’re looking for to get its operating permit within the next two weeks, which would be impressive, but then again, we now know how good Tesla is with deadlines.
Meet Roadshow’s long-term 2021 Tesla Model Y
1/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow Please welcome Roadshow’s new 2021 Tesla Model Y. 2/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow Yes, that’s right, we leased it. We’ll be living with this for 24 months to tell you our impressions. 3/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow What options did we get? Well, Deep Blue Metallic paint, as you see. We stuck with the 19-inch wheels, though, but we did add a tow hitch. 4/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow We also opted for the white interior. Why? 5/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow We want to see how well it holds up to Dog Mode. 6/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow There’s a lot of storage up front in the frunk. 7/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow And a remarkably spacious trunk, too. 8/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow Overall the interior detailing is much nicer than we saw on the early Model 3s. 9/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow But we’d sure like some more tactile controls. Reaching for the touchscreen all the time is a bit tiring. 10/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow That’s just one of the many things we’re looking forward to learning more about as we get comfortable with our new Model Y. 11/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 12/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 13/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 14/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 15/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 16/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 17/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 18/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 19/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 20/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 21/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 22/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 23/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow 24/24 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow
This was originally published on Roadshow.
Keyword: Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Is Almost Allowed to Build Cars, Report Says