The US electric car manufacturer Tesla would also like to have battery cells in its future Plant in Grünheide manufacture. “If the general conditions are right, the entire battery value creation will take place in Grünheide in the future,” said the company. Accordingly, Tesla is investing a three-digit million amount in the necessary expansion.
Currently only components are produced in Brandenburg, but the cells in the USAwho then come to Germany. “Everything from battery cells to vehicles should be produced at one location,” said the spokeswoman. “This is unique in Europe and also strengthens the resilience of our supply chains.”
The investment that has now been announced is intended to enable the cell factory that has already been built to be able to produce the cells there. 2027 should be like this per year Battery cells can be produced with a capacity of up to eight gigawatt hours. One gigawatt hour is equivalent to one million kilowatt hours; a Tesla Model Y Standard consumes 13.1 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers.
Europe is lagging behind in cell production
In international competition with China and the USA The company spokeswoman said that to date it has hardly been possible to produce cells economically in Europe. Until now Europe is lagging Asia in particular lags behind in the production of battery cells for electric cars. In the USA, the anti-inflation law also led to Tesla ramping up battery production at its Austin plant in Texas more quickly and no complete cells were manufactured in Grünheide.
Tesla is building in Grünheide – company boss Elon Musk’s only electric car factory Europe – the bestseller Model Y for the European and Canadian markets, among others. Musk announced in 2020 that he wanted to make the plant near Berlin the world’s largest battery factory.
Other companies have also recently announced investments of this kind. The German car manufacturer VW is building for example in SalzgitterSpain and Canada battery cell factories. Cells ready for series production are expected to roll off the production line in Salzgitter for the first time this year.
