Probably many of you have repeatedly wondered why Tesla chose a site in Grünheide in order to build its Giga Berlin. Thanks to the Third Row Tesla, we got the opportunity to find out the answer to this question directly from the Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In the interview, Musk said that he looked at many different places. But Grünheide possessed the advantages that undoubtedly made it the winner.
First of all, this place is only a 30-minute drive from the German capital Berlin. There are a lot of talents in the capital and the region. Berlin is full of diverse specialists, therefore such a close location makes it possible that they will be very interested in working at the Tesla plant. In fact, the factory site is located on the outskirts of Berlin, but technically in Brandenburg.
And this means that people who prefer to live in an apartment can easily afford it. The place for the factory is located very close to the railway, that is, the station will be located right there. Workers literally without spending extra time can come to work. At the same time, the station is so close that they don’t even need a bicycle to get to work, they just can get off the train and immediately find themselves in the factory.
For those who want to work in a factory, but have a family and would like to live in a house, this location is also a very good choice. There is affordable housing in this area that is not too expensive.
One of the most important factors is that this was the place where BMW was previously planning to build its plant, but for some reason chose a different place. The area around Grünheide has been a commercial area for 20 years. BMW has done a lot of environmental work has been done and many permits have already been received. That is why Musk suggests that Tesla will be able to build a plant here in one year. These factors made this place one of the fastest places to start construction.
The local and state governments provided great support for the location of the plant here. Musk shared that when he inspected the place, he felt positive vibes "I went there and, it was like, this seems like some pretty good vibes this place. It’s a lovely place."
Elon also noted that he simply incredibly likes the name of the factory "It sounds cool, too. Giga Berlin. It does sound like some cool night club or anything. You could definitely have a cool nightclub that was called that and people would be like ‘yeah, sounds good’."
The combination of all these factors made it possible that this place was chosen for the construction of the future Tesla Gigafactory 4.
Follow the Third Row Podcast on Twitter
Featured image: @gigafactory_4 / Twitter