Tesla Delays Start of German Factory Operations to Next Year

Photo by MarketWatch

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Bloomberg reported on the 2nd (local time) that the start of operations at Tesla's European factory in Germany is expected to be delayed by about six months from the original schedule.

The report, citing the German automotive magazine Automobilwoche, stated that Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has approved postponing the completion of the German factory from July this year to about six months later, sometime after next year.

Starting operations at the European factory was one of Tesla's top priorities this year. Tesla planned to increase production with the new European factory to respond to the rapid surge in electric vehicle sales by traditional leaders such as Volkswagen and Audi.

Automobilwoche, citing unidentified sources, reported that the decision was influenced by a delay of 1 to 1.5 years in the mass production of batteries independently developed by Tesla.

Delays in regulatory approval procedures are also an issue. In an appeal filed earlier last month with the Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court in Berlin, Germany, Tesla publicly criticized the slow and complex approval process in Germany, stating, "The main approval, which was expected by the end of last year, is taking much longer."

The gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, which is to serve as Tesla's European production base, was originally expected to be completed and operational by July. The German gigafactory, Tesla's fourth production facility, is planned to include a facility capable of producing 500,000 electric vehicles annually, along with an engineering and design center.

Tesla currently operates a gigafactory battery plant in Reno, Nevada, a power electronics factory in Buffalo, New York, and a complete vehicle assembly gigafactory in Shanghai, China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.