China News Agency, Berlin, March 22. According to German media reports, after about two years of preparation, the Tesla factory officially opened on the 22nd in Grünheide, Brandenburg, adjacent to the German capital Berlin. The delivery ceremony of the first Model Y produced in Germany.
According to reports, this is by far the largest electric vehicle factory in Germany and Tesla's first factory in Europe.
Currently, 3,500 people are working at the factory, with plans to hire thousands more in the coming months.
In the first phase of the expansion, up to 12,000 employees will work here.
In the first phase, the plant will have a production capacity of up to 500,000 vehicles per year.
Tesla also hopes to produce new batteries at the site of its first "gigafactory" in Europe, which is still under construction.
According to the report, Tesla believes that it has a "mission to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy."
For German car companies such as Volkswagen, BMW and Audi, competition in the electric vehicle space in their own country is intensifying.
German Federal Chancellor Scholz said at the opening ceremony that day that the entire eastern Germany will benefit from the new car factory.
He also pointed out that electric vehicles will profoundly affect future mobility and support global economic exchanges.
"Germany needs global competition, not deglobalization."
Given rising energy prices, Germany's Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Habeck said reducing the use of fuel-guzzling products would help a lot.
He pointed out that Germany wants to reduce its dependence on Russian oil, which can be replaced by electricity. "Today is a good sign."
Tesla founder Elon Musk announced in November 2019 a multibillion-dollar investment in a factory near Berlin, with construction starting in February 2020.
Grünheide is a town in the Oder-Spree county in the German state of Brandenburg, located near the new airport in Berlin.
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