Tesla Giga Berlin Plans to Add 3rd Work Shift in December, Aims for Production Capacity of 5K Model Ys per Week

Model Y General Assembly at Gigafactory Berlin / Photo: Tesla

Tesla Giga Berlin plans to add a third shift in December 2022 to keep the factory working 24 hours per day. Efforts aim to reach a production capacity of 5,000 Model Ys per week by the end of 2022/early 2023.

Giga Berlin is Tesla's first European factory and will meet the demand for the company's vehicles throughout Europe in the future. Having started work in March 2022, the factory is currently in the stage of increasing mass production. Although supply chain problems in the spring, due to COVID-19 in China, have slowed progress, Tesla continues to actively ramp up production, gradually catching up.

Just a couple of months after the start of operations at Giga Berlin, in the second half of May, the factory began working in two shifts. Such a quick start of the second shift was made possible because, due to delays in obtaining final approval to start production, the team was able to prepare for work by testing all production processes and gaining experience in this. At the moment, the factory operates 16 hours a day, and does not work at night, which obviously significantly slows down the pace of production ramp-up. However, the start of 24-hour operation could start as early as this year.

The rumor that Giga Berlin could start working in three shifts starting in July appeared at the end of June. At that time, this information seemed unlikely, since the introduction of the third shift required a significant increase in the number of factory employees and the preparation of production lines for work 24 hours a day. As expected, the information remained only a rumor, and Giga Berlin continued to work in two shifts, but with a production capacity of 1,200-1,500 Model Ys per week after the upgrade.

Now Drive Tesla, citing its sources, has revealed that Giga Berlin plans to start operating in three shifts as early as December 2022. This change should allow the production of about 5,000 cars a week, or about 260,000 cars a year.

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the Q2 2022 Earnings Call, Giga Berlin and Giga Texas will almost certainly be able to produce 5,000 Model Ys a week by the end of this year, or early 2023. In addition, he mentioned that the company aims to produce at these factories 10,000 vehicles per week per plant by the end of 2023, which equates to 520,000 vehicles per year.

“And so that's why I am confident we will get to 5,000 cars a week at – in Austin and Berlin by the end of this year or early next year and probably but not certainly, 10,000 cars a week at both locations by the end of next year.”

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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