Tesla Targets Mid-2027 for Full Battery Cell Production at Giga Berlin

Image credit: Tesla

Tesla is targeting mid-2027 for full battery cell production at Giga Berlin, eliminating a transatlantic detour in its manufacturing process.

Speaking at the November 11 Automobilwoche Kongress, plant director André Thierig said Berlin already produces electrodes, but sends them to Texas for cell manufacturing before receiving completed cells back, according to the organizer’s report. The new timeline covers bringing that remaining work to Germany.

Bringing more of the battery supply chain to Berlin

The battery expansion has been building for months. In May, Tesla outlined a $250 million investment in Berlin battery production, with planned annual capacity of 18 GWh and more than 1,500 additional jobs. At the time, that capacity was described as enough for roughly 225,000 to 300,000 Model Y vehicles annually. Those figures describe the planned battery operation, not an output level already achieved.

The investment is aimed at Tesla’s 4680 battery programme. The name refers to the cylindrical cell’s dimensions: 46 millimetres in diameter and 80 millimetres in height. Making a cell is different from assembling those cells into the larger battery pack installed in a vehicle, so expanding local cell production is a separate milestone from building more cars.

For Berlin, the practical change is a shorter production route. Instead of moving partly processed battery materials across the Atlantic and bringing finished cells back, more of the work would sit alongside the vehicle plant. That gives the mid-2027 target a supply-chain significance beyond another factory expansion announcement; it is not, by itself, a promise of cheaper cars or longer range.

More Model Ys now, a second factory still undecided

Vehicle production is also climbing. Thierig put current output at 7,500 Model Y vehicles per week.

That follows Tesla Manufacturing’s 7,000-vehicle weekly milestone announced on October 23. Berlin had previously reached 6,000 vehicles in a week in early 2024 and 4,000 in February 2023. The latest figure is another step up, rather than the start of production at a new vehicle factory.

The plant also passed 750,000 vehicles produced in May 2026, after building more than 61,000 in the first quarter. These milestones track the growth of the existing operation, while the larger site expansion remains a separate, longer-term project.

A second factory remains undecided, including its product. Thierig said it would not simply be another Model Y factory if built; Tesla plans a building application this year.

The second production hall proposed in October would cover around 536,000 square metres compared with roughly 219,000 for the existing hall. That proposal envisioned construction starting no earlier than 2027, as part of a longer-term expansion toward one million vehicles annually. The scale of that proposal does not mean the additional factory or a new model has now been approved.