Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to produce Semi, the company’s electric truck model, in Grünheide, Germany, at its Giga Berlin factory.
This news came during Musk’s brief visit to Berlin, where he addressed Tesla employees following a recent fire at the facility started by activists, resulting in a brief factory shut down.
During his four-hour stay in Germany, Musk visited the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide on Wednesday morning. The factory had experienced a production halt due to a fire attack on its power supply. Musk, addressing the workforce, responded to inquiries about the Tesla Semi. A video recording, obtained by Handelsblatt, captured Musk stating, “I think it makes sense to produce the Semi truck in Europe at Giga Berlin.”
First unveiled in 2017, the Tesla Semi is currently being developed in Nevada and produced in limited numbers. Musk aims to manufacture the electric semi-truck at a cost comparable to diesel trucks. To achieve this, Tesla is optimizing the design and production process. Musk targets high-volume production by the end of 2024.
Matthias Schmidt, founder of Schmidt Automotive, a sector analysis service, sees a definite market for the Tesla truck in Europe. Schmidt explains that logistics companies operate on slim margins, emphasizing the need to convince them of the Semi’s viability.
The trucking sector is ripe for electric disruption and Semi looks to be able to address that segment of the auto industry. Having Semi produced at Giga Berlin will extend the truck to Europe and possibly beyond.
Check out the Giga Berlin Fly Through 2.0 uploaded by Tesla to its YouTube channel, below. This was shared today when previously it was only available on X:
““I think it makes sense to produce the Semi truck in Europe at Giga Berlin.” This is not what the headline says. One is “I think it makes sense” and the other is “we will manufacture”.
And we wonder why there is so much anti Musk sentiment out there when so called journalists/writers misquote him so much! Now, no doubt, in 4-5 years some shareholder with 9 shares will sue Tesla and Musk for misrepresenting future plans? We are just as responsible for not calling this trash out in the first place.