Tesla to introduce third shift in Giga Berlin in December

Tesla wants to introduce a third shift in Grünheide this year. This information was indirectly confirmed by German politicians. Meanwhile, Giga Texas has reached an important mark in the production ramp-up.

But first to Brandenburg: the portal Drive Tesla claims to have heard about the introduction of the third shift in December 2022. Sources for the information are not named, however. With the third eight-hour shift, the plant in Grünheide would produce cars around the clock from the end of the year – currently only the Model Y. At the moment, the plant runs in two shifts from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm.

Statements by Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Jörg Steinbach, also suggest that the information from “Drive Tesla” could be accurate. “Since the end of May, the operation has already been running in two shifts, and by the end of the year there will then be three shifts,” Steinbach is quoted as saying in a press release from the Bundestag. Steinbach was an important figure in the settlement and approval of the Tesla factory in Brandenburg.

With the third shift, production is expected to increase to up to 5,000 vehicles per week in early 2023. This was the figure given by Drew Baglino, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, during the company’s second quarter earnings conference call.

Currently, Giga Berlin produces between 1,200 and 1,500 Model Ys per week. Since the official start of series production in March, Tesla has tested a few different production processes in Grünheide and also expanded the model variety. Initially, only the Model Y Performance was built, but now long-range models are also coming off the production line in Grünheide. According to reports, a single-engine basic model has already been built on a test basis, and there is also speculation about the use of BYD’s Blade battery in this variant. However, all customer vehicles from Grünheide are still painted white or black – for the Mercury Silver Metallic and Deep Crimson paint finishes, tests are probably still underway.

The German Tesla plant reached the important mark of 1,000 Model Ys per week in June. In the meantime, Giga Austin in Texas, which opened a little after Grünheide, has also reached this production rate, according to observers. The information was shared by a Tesla employee on Snapchat, and later a corresponding photo spread on Twitter. It is apparently a photo of an internal ceremony – the employees involved signed a plaque with the Tesla logo and the number 1,000.

In Texas, only the Model Y is currently being built as well, and it is the standard range variant with a structural battery pack and 4680 cells. In addition, Model Y Long Range with conventional battery packs of 2170 cells are now also being produced in Austin.

driveteslacanada.ca, bundestag.de (both third shift), twitter.com, driveteslacanada.ca (both Giga Texas)