Tesla aims to produce one million cars per year near Berlin. The new facility will be 2.4 times larger
Tesla is preparing the next phase of expansion for its Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in Grünheide. By December 2026, the company plans to submit the necessary documents to obtain approvals for building a second production hall covering an area of about 536,000 square meters. Construction could begin in 2027, but it will take much longer to reach full capacity.
The current facility can produce up to 375,000 cars per year. Once the entire investment is completed, Tesla’s plants near Berlin could produce as many as 1 million cars annually.
The second hall will be larger than the current factory
The new building is set to be constructed north of the existing factory. Its planned area is 536,000 square meters, compared to about 219,000 square meters for the current hall. Thus, the new facility would be roughly 2.4 times larger.
Tesla has spoken of producing one million cars per year from the early stages of building the facility in Grünheide. However, it is only the plan for a second hall that shows how the company intends to reach such scale. The current production target is 7,500 cars per week, which is approximately 375,000 units per year. Raising output to one million would mean an increase of around 167 percent.
The factory is already increasing employment. According to information cited by Not a Tesla App, in April Tesla announced it would boost production by 20 percent and hire 1,000 people, with another 1,000 jobs to be added later. The facility currently employs around 12,000 workers and has produced over 750,000 cars since its opening in spring.
It is unknown how many workers will be needed after the construction of the second facility. Tesla has also not provided a schedule for further increases in production. The entire expansion could take up to about ten years, so producing one million cars per year remains a distant goal rather than a plan for 2027 or 2028.
Permits divided into three phases
The process began in March 2023 when Tesla submitted an application for expanding the plant. The Brandenburg Environmental Protection Agency issued the first partial permit in October 2024. It covered the modernization of the existing facility as well as the preparation of additional storage and logistics spaces.
The second phase relates to a new production hall. The third phase is intended to include its equipment as well as a railway freight terminal on the factory grounds. All three phases were submitted in 2023, but Tesla must provide additional documentation for the next two phases. The expansion is set to cover approximately 70 hectares of the northern part of the site.
The most sensitive aspect remains water management. Tesla plans to implement an additional water circulation system and its own wastewater treatment facility. The new hall and increased number of employees will raise overall water consumption, but according to the proposed plans, the factory should not generate more sewage. As a result, the existing limits for fresh water and wastewater, agreed upon with Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner, are expected to be sufficient even after the expansion. This is currently just an assumption by the investor that will be evaluated during the environmental assessment process.
Model Y May Get Company
Grünheide is currently producing the Model Y for Europe and select export markets, including Canada. German media, citing project observers, report that another vehicle will be manufactured in the new production hall. No specific model was named.
Elon Musk has previously said that the most likely next major product for the German factory is the Cybercab. In the long term, the humanoid robot Optimus could also be produced in Grünheide. However, these are statements from Tesla’s CEO, not approved production plans. Documents describing the expansion do not specify what will be manufactured alongside the Model Y.
The next concrete step is to submit the completed documents in December. Only the progress of the process will show whether Tesla can actually begin construction in 2027 and under what environmental conditions.
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