Tesla’s German Gigafactory in Berlin-Brandenburg is apparently looking to expand its production capacity by adding another shift, allowing for round-the-clock production. This would place the plant’s run rate in line with previous forecasts from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla plans to add a third shift at Gigafactory Berlin, bringing weekly Model Y production up to 4,500 units per week, according to a report from the German publication Tesla Mag on Wednesday, citing information from Märkische Oderzeitung (MOZ).
In addition, the report also claims that Tesla will soon submit new applications for the planned expansion of the factory’s physical footprint.
Tesla Starts Clearing Trees for Giga Berlin Expansion https://t.co/lFzu61YN72
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) October 28, 2022
An evaluation of the VIN numbers from Giga Berlin-built Model Y units found that the automaker is already churning out 3,000 Model Y units per week. Previous reports have indicated that Tesla currently employs about 7,500 workers at Giga Berlin, and that figure would have to go up significantly to add a third shift.
The report says that Giga Berlin plans to start a third shift in the logistics area as early as this week, while Tesla won’t add a night shift for the final assembly area until the second week of January. Giga Berlin’s first shift would start at 6 a.m., followed by a second shift at 2 p.m., and a new night shift at 10 p.m.
Musk previously said that a weekly production rate of 5,000 units is Tesla’s first goal with Giga Berlin, and he expressed hopes that the Grünheide factory would reach these levels this year.
According to calculations from Tesla Mag, three shifts per day over five days a week would equate to about 4,500 Model Y units per week, with the current goal of 300 units per shift.
Back in October, weekly Model Y production at Giga Berlin hit 2,000 units for the first time, though Tesla hasn’t shared any updates since then.
