Tesla’s plans for Grünheide expansion take shape
Plans for the expansion of Tesla's German Gigafactory in Grünheide are becoming clearer. According to media reports, the US electric car manufacturer intends to significantly expand the site over the coming years - with a new, much larger production hall and additional infrastructure.
Image: Tesla
According to information from the _RBB_ news portal, Tesla plans to submit its proposals for approval in December. The centrepiece of the plans is the construction of an additional production hall, to be built north of the existing facility. The new hall is reportedly planned to be more than twice the size of the current 219,000-square-metre production hall, with a total area of around 536,000 square metres.
Currently, the Grünheide factory has the capacity to produce up to 375,000 Model Y units per year. In the long term, up to one million vehicles are expected to roll off the production line in Grünheide. This figure has been discussed for years and was mentioned, for example, in the context of a first preliminary expansion approval in mid-2024. According to _RBB_, Tesla has not yet provided concrete details on potential staff increases. Currently, around 12,000 people work at the German plant.
Additionally,_RBB_ reports that construction of the new hall could begin in 2027. It is not yet clear which vehicle models will be produced there. Citing “observers”, the _Märkische Oderzeitung_ reports that”another vehicle” is expected to be manufactured in addition to the Model Y.
Tesla’s expansion plans are fundamentally divided into three phases, each requiring a so-called partial approval. The first partial approval was already granted in October 2024 by the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment. Tesla submitted the corresponding application in March 2023 as reported here. According to an earlier report by Märkische Oderzeitung, the expansion involves 70 hectares in the northern part of the site. While the clearing of land was still covered by the current development plan, Tesla had to reapply for the expansion work on its own factory premises.
While the first phase focused on modernising the existing hall and creating additional storage and logistics areas on the Tesla site, the upcoming second phase centres on the construction of a second production hall. The third partial approval will later cover, among other things, factory equipment and the construction of a freight railway station on the factory premises. RBB notes that, although “all three phases were applied for in partial approvals in 2023, additional documents must still be submitted for phases two and three.”
RBB highlights an important detail of the further planning: the design of an additional water circuit, including wastewater treatment. Water consumption has been a sensitive issue in Grünheide since the beginning. RBB states: “The new hall and additional employees would indeed consume more water overall than before – however, due to in-house treatment, no additional sanitary wastewater would be generated. Consequently, the quantities of fresh and wastewater contractually agreed with the Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner (WSE) should also suffice for the further expansion. The expanded wastewater treatment would be an in-house effort by Tesla on the factory premises.”