Elon Musk says Tesla will bring the Tesla Semi electric truck into production at Gigafactory Berlin.
However, it will be important to start mass production in the US first.
The CEO attended the reopening of Gigafactory Berlin after having to close it for just over a week following an arson attack that crippled the power supply.
Tesla currently only manufactures the Model Y at its Gigafactory Berlin.
Local German media reported that Musk mentioned at the event that Tesla is looking to build a Tesla Semi at the factory:
“I think it makes sense to produce the Tesla Semi in Europe at the Gigafactory in Berlin.”
The CEO did not provide a timeline for the project. The automaker has yet to announce a new vehicle program beyond the manufacturer's Model Y.
There's probably a lot of work to be done before he gets there.
The Tesla Semi is currently only produced in low quantities at a facility outside the Gigafactory Nevada.
In January 2023, Tesla announced a massive expansion of its Gigafactory Nevada to add production of Tesla Semi trucks and 4,680 battery cells and to finally expand the factory to its originally planned size.
However, nothing happened with the factory expansion for a year. In January 2024, Tesla finally began work on the project, but it is not clear when the automaker could begin production of the electric truck.
Tesla is unlikely to invest in production at another factory until it can sustainably mass-produce the car at its Gigafactory Nevada.
Take Electric
I still have a lot of hope for the Tesla Semi program, but there are clearly some amazing challenges that Tesla hasn't addressed.
There was first a multi-year delay between prototype and production, and now it looks like there will be a multi-year delay between production and volume production.
I still remember when Elon said that Tesla would increase Tesla Semi production to 50,000 units in 2024. I remember he said that less than a year ago.
I would be surprised if Tesla produces more than a few hundred Tesla Semi trucks this year, and that might be optimistic.
Either Elon wasn't following the show enough to say that, or something went wrong.
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