Tesla wants to double the production capacity of its assembly plant outside Berlin to one million electric cars a year, a move that would make it Europe’s largest car plant at a time when German automakers are struggling to keep up with the transition to electric vehicles.
Since it began production in Grünheide 16 months ago, Tesla has disrupted the German automotive landscape. In the first half of this year, for the first time, it surpassed Volkswagen in electric car sales.
If the expansion, detailed in thousands of pages made public on Wednesday, wins the approval of local officials, the plant’s output will surpass Volkswagen’s landmark factory in Wolfsburg, which was built in the 1930s and remains Europe’s largest, turning out 815,000 vehicles a year.
Volkswagen and other German automakers, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz, have spent years trying to create electric cars that can compete with Tesla in price and popularity. Across the continent in June, new registrations of electric vehicles rose more than 66 percent from a year earlier, outselling diesel cars for the first time, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
As of March 2022, Tesla’s German plant is producing about 5,000 Model Y sport utility vehicles per week — a pace that’s about half its current capacity, which is still on the rise. The company said it wants to add capacity to build other models at the plant, but did not specify which ones. It also seeks to double its production of battery cells, up to a storage capacity of 100 gigawatt hours per year, expansion documents show.
The number of employees will increase to 22,500, up from 10,000 today, the company told residents at a town hall-style event near the plant on Tuesday. Dozens of jobs are advertised on the company’s website, most of them in manufacturing, indicating that the company still has openings at the current plant.
Dirk Schulze, the regional head of the IG Metall trade union, which counts 2.3 million workers nationwide in its ranks, welcomed the announcement of more jobs in the economically weak region. But he called for better working conditions for those on the job.
“Despite the high level of sick leave, staff are being cut on a significant scale,” said Mr. Schulze. “But the production targets are not being adjusted down, so the pressure on the remaining colleagues is increasing.”
IG Metall was frustrated by its inability to attract enough workers to negotiate a collective-bargaining agreement for employees at the plant. Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has been outspoken about his opposition to unions.
Local residents and organizations have one month to review the plans and submit any concerns to the authorities. A public hearing will be held in October.
Tesla has faced opposition from area residents since the plant was first proposed in 2019; they are concerned that the existing factory will become a drain on the ground water. Expansion plans include the construction of a water treatment facility, which will allow the factory to recycle water instead of expanding its use of resources.