Car maker Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin is facing delays and might not start producing battery cells until 2024 due to technical issues, according to reports.
German business daily Handelsblatt reported that problems have been discovered with an important production process presented by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk two years ago.
Currently, battery research at the site in Gruenheide only covers electrodes. All equipment for the remaining production steps of winding, assembling and formatting the cells are being moved to Tesla’s headquarters in Texas, the report stated.
At full capacity, the Gruenheide plant will produce 500,000 cars a year, more than the 450,000 electric vehicles that German rival Volkswagen sold globally in 2021. The plant is still in the ramp-up phase.
It will also eventually generate 50 GWh of battery cells, but Tesla has not confirmed a timeline for that.
Tesla still plans to build a battery cell plant in Gruenheide in the long term, the report said, adding the company has to get a grip on the dry coating of the electrodes before that can happen.
Tesla has been asked to comment.
