Elon Musk Says Tesla Gigafactory Berlin To Use Prefabricated Construction Methods

Featured Image Credit: @elonmusk/Twitter

Elon Musk shared that Tesla Gigafactory Berlin would utilize prefabricated construction methods to build its facilities. He predicted that Giga Berlin would come together at a remarkably fast pace, which led many to wonder if it could move as fast as Giga Shanghai.

Germany’s prefabricated building market has been growing in the past couple of years and more growth is expected in the coming years. According to Mordor Intelligence research, Germany’s prefab building market has a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% from 2020 to 2025. Prefabricated construction methods are now being explored throughout the industry as practices that benefit both the client and the construction company.

Some benefits to prefab construction include:

1) Eco-friendly Construction

Prefab construction produced less waste than conventional construction methods. Extra materials can usually be used in succeeding projects and the precision that comes with prefab construction decreases errors. It can also reduce the amount of energy used during construction.

Giga Berlin will come together at an impossible-seeming speed. The prefabricated construction method in Germany is extremely impressive.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2020

2) It reduces the construction time

With prefab construction, work on the foundation and the shell of the building can done simultaneously, saving time. The shell is usually made in a separate location in a factory, which also eliminates any hindrances caused by changing weather conditions.

3) It decreases costs

Before TSLA’s Q2 2020 Earnings Call, Wall Street analysts wondered if construction on Gigafactory Berlin and Gigfactory Texas would affect its free cash flow. However, prefab construction methods would significantly reduce the cost of labor and materials.

So far, Giga Berlin has been moving at a steady pace ever since it received early approval to start work on the foundation of the site. Now several pillars and what seems like the beginnings of a building are visible in the site. However, basing Giga Berlin’s construction speed on its visible progress may be deceiving.

With prefab construction, several components of a building—or in Giga Berlin’s case the Model Y plant—would be made in a separate location. Only the foundations are being laid right now. Once that is complete, Giga Berlin construction workers could easily fit prefab walls into the foundation and complete the building relatively fast.

Brandenburg’s State Environment Agency still hasn’t given Tesla’s application for Giga Berlin the green light, but with every early approval, it seems more likely that the EV automaker’s papers will be approved.