OtherNovember 5, 2026

Tesla opens new R&D center in Berlin-Köpenick

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Automobile

Tesla Opens New R&D Center in Berlin-Köpenick

Tesla has opened its new R&D center in Berlin-Köpenick. Engineers and technicians at the company will work there on developing new vehicles, engines, and materials while conducting tests. A total of 250 employees will be stationed at this location, having previously worked in various places.

Image: Tesla

By Cora Werwitzke

11/05/2026 - 10:30 AM

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Tesla announces that it has moved into its so-called Berlin Tesla Engineering Center (BTEC) in Berlin-Köpenick. The U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer renovated an old factory complex covering around 20,000 square meters for this purpose. Located in Köpenick, the new R&D center is now situated roughly halfway between the city center and the factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg.

We recall that even when the factory was established a few years ago, a European development center in the Berlin area was promised, but it has yet to materialize. A year ago, Tesla’s manager in charge of development, Lars Moravy, announced the final decision on the location. Now, the company reports moving to the new premises. According to Tesla, Berlin will house “our third hub of this kind after Fremont and Shanghai.” It adds, “At this center, we bring together material development, powertrain development, vehicle development, and validation under one roof — thus enabling a short feedback loop between development and mass production.”

Specifically, the employees in Köpenick are supposed to work on new vehicles, engines, and materials, as well as conduct tests. According to the news portal RBB24, these include safety tests on vehicle components and tests on battery cells. These tests are intended to be carried out in a large hall at the center. According to Tesla, this location combines four development sites on one campus with 30 different laboratories.

Image 7: Berlin tesla engineering center opening

Image: Tesla

Image 8: Berlin tesla engineering center opening

Image: Tesla

Image 9: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 11: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 12: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 13: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 14: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 15: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 17: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 18: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Image 19: Opening of Tesla’s engineering center in Berlin

Image: Tesla

Initially, the Berlin Tesla Engineering Center is intended to provide employment for around 250 engineers and technicians. According to RBB24, approval has already been requested for the second phase of expansion, aiming to increase the workforce to approximately 500 engineers and technicians in total. Tesla claims to be investing around 100 million euros in the project overall. The insights gained from development and testing work on site are expected to be applied, among other things, to production at the plant in Grünheide.

According to manager Lars Moravy’s statements last year, Tesla had examined more than three dozen locations and considered building anew before deciding on Köpenick. The site there is suitable “due to its ample space, excellent energy supply, and location between Berlin and Grünheide.” As of 2025, Tesla employed around 2,000 engineers and technicians in Germany, distributed across multiple facilities—including Tesla Grohmann Automation in Prüm, where Tesla acquired the equipment manufacturer Grohmann years earlier. By 2025, roughly one-fifth of Tesla’s global developers were working in Germany.

rbb24.de, heise.de, x.com

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7 Comments

on “Tesla opens new R&D center in Berlin-Köpenick”

Nicole H.

11/05/2026 at 11:42

Approximately 20% of all Tesla engineers work in Germany — that’s quite impressive. It shows that the engineers here can keep up well with their Chinese and American colleagues. I pass by the Tesla facility in Prüm in the Eifel often and am always amazed by what’s going on there.

Replies

David

11/05/2026 at 11:51

Currently, the European model lineup lacks any 800 V technology, has an extremely slow charging speed even at 400 V, no reverse charging or other ways to draw power from the vehicle battery, no instruments, no physical controls, no CarPlay, no brake blending or coasting functions. Unlike BMW and Mercedes, it doesn’t even have a point-to-point approval for Germany, along with two impractical coupe body styles—one tall and one low. Moreover, neither vehicle can be mass-produced on an assembly line. A designer should also be hired. There is much that needs to be researched and developed.

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Miro

11/05/2026 at 20:32

Instead of viewing it positively—like the creation of jobs in Germany’s automotive industry rather than job losses as in many other places—you’re being terrible.

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Birne

11/05/2026 at 1:08 PM

It’s true, those are all reasons that highlight why these vehicles have been the best-selling in the world for 3.5 years straight :DOr maybe it’s due to the priority list of some niche customers,… ;)

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David

11/05/2026 at 3:54 PM

Was was said at Sachsenring in 1988 as well: we have the best-selling car. There are only two models, and they were pushed into markets worldwide at heavy discounts, causing profits to plummet. The stated goal was to produce 20 million vehicles per year, which would make them the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer. Now they’re at 1.1 million... They’ve long since stopped being the largest producer of BEVs, and their market share is negligible. This year in Germany, their market share is 1.9%. Even among purely electric cars, their market share as of 2026 is only 6.8%.

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Maik

11/05/2026 at 17:11

Hey David, it’s always fascinating to see how confidently you present stories from the Paulaner Garden here and fabricate facts on your own. Let’s start with your historical trip to VEB Sachsenring in 1988: You won’t find a single source worldwide for the supposed quote “We have the best-selling car” — because it’s completely made up. It gets even more absurd with your tale about “Marge sinking into the basement” due to discounts. It’s quite clear at this point that you’re not really familiar with the real business world and mix up basic business concepts. A quick look at actual business reports instead of relying on your own speculation would have helped: Tesla still has one of the highest profit margins in the entire electric vehicle industry. In the third quarter of 2026, Tesla’s gross margin on vehicles alone (without accounting for CO₂ credits) rose from 15.4% the previous year to a strong 18.1%, with the overall gross margin even climbing to 19.6%. While many traditional automakers are still struggling to turn a profit on their electric vehicles or incurring losses per vehicle, Tesla leads at the top of the volume market — simply because the average production cost per vehicle has been reduced to around $34,500. And since for you return on sales, gross margin, and operating income are probably all the same thing, here’s a quick refresher on balance sheets: If you next come across an operating margin of 2.6%—which didn’t drop due to your imagined discount wars, but because Tesla alone increased R&D spending on AI, FSD, and the Cybercab by a whopping 69% to $2.76 billion in the last quarter—it means they’re investing heavily in new technologies with the profits from their highly profitable car sales.

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Future

11/05/2026 at 21:21

This is good news for Germany. Other manufacturers speak out against plant closures and the relocation of production to cheaper foreign countries. Tesla, on the other hand, invests in Germany and believes in its location. Likely, Tesla can afford to do this because it has been profitable in the electric vehicle sector for a long time. Others, however, face difficulties scaling up electric vehicle production and must cut costs everywhere just to afford to offer more electric vehicles. Tesla shows all others that it is possible to produce profitable electric vehicles on a large scale in Germany, using German engineers, developers, technicians, and workers. Why can’t other manufacturers achieve the same with higher margins on electric vehicles? It’s a mystery why they can’t do what Tesla can. That’s why these old manufacturers still cling to internal combustion engines. There are comments on major news portals where journalists mock the internal combustion engine fantasies of certain German executives who are deliberately stepping back into the past for media attention.

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11/05/2026 at 11:42

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