Elon Musk: Tesla to build car and battery factory in ‘Berlin area’

The best-known producer of electric cars, Tesla, will build a car and battery factory near Berlin, founder and CEO Elon Musk announced in the German capital on Tuesday.

Musk said on Twitter that Tesla “will build batteries, powertrains and vehicles, starting with Model Y” lower-priced
sports utility vehicle at the factory.

Several news outlets cited the statement by Musk, who is visiting Berlin for the annual Goldene Lenkrad (Golden Steering Wheel) automotive awards organized by car magazine Autobild, an offshoot of the daily Bild.

According to Bild, Musk said the factory would be built near the construction site of the unfinished Berlin airport. Musk made the announcement after the Tesla Model 3 snatched the award for the best car in the middle/upper vehicle class.

Musk also said that Tesla would be opening a design and engineering center in Berlin, reported the Electrek magazine, a publication specializing in E-mobility. They also cited Musk as saying that the factory would be built in the “Berlin area.”

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  A serial entrepreneur

  Tech visionary Musk intends to revolutionize transportation, both on earth and in space, and the way humans lead their lives. Over the past two decades, the South African-born American entrepreneur has emerged as one of Silicon Valley’s most recognized faces worldwide. Musk was cofounder of Paypal, which was acquired by eBay for $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) in 2002.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Eying space

  In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company currently valued at over $20 billion. He wants to make space travel cheaper and, eventually, enable human life on Mars, thus giving human kind a chance at becoming multi-planetary species.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  A mission to Mars

  SpaceX’s Falcon and Dragon rocket programs both already deliver payloads into Earth’s orbit. The company has said it wants to launch its Mars-bound cargo flight in 2022, followed by the first Mars flight with passengers in 2024.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Transforming transportation

  After founding SpaceX, Musk set up Tesla in 2003 to come up with electric autonomous vehicles and renewable energy solutions. But production bottlenecks have plagued the company, with much of its future banked on the Model 3, its first mid-price, mass-market vehicle.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Really big Teslas are coming

  After the foray into electric cars, Musk last year opened a new chapter in his book of visions as he unveiled the prototype of a futuristic all-electric heavy truck. The vehicle — dubbed the Tesla Semi — is set to go into production in 2019. It would boast 500 miles of range, a battery and motors that will last 1 million miles and cheaper total operating costs than diesel models, Musk claimed.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Roofs made of solar tiles

  Besides running SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has also invested in the solar energy company SolarCity to turn his vision of a solar-powered future into a reality. Musk said houses equipped with Tesla’s Solar Roof would feed energy to Powerwall, a sleek storage unit designed to act as an electricity fill-up station for both the house and a Tesla electric car.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Dreaming an electric future

  In 2015, Musk unveiled Powerwall, a home battery unit with a selling price of $3,500 for 10kWh and $3,000 for 7kWh. The Powerwall can be controlled via one’s phone, from anywhere. But slow production rates have proved to be a problem.

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Hyperloop

  Hyperloop came into global prominence after it was proposed by Musk in 2013. It is viewed as a next-generation transportation system — a “fifth mode” of transport (after planes, trains, cars and boats). It uses magnetically-levitated pods and sealed partial vacuum transit tubes to move people and freight at supersonic speeds estimated to reach over 700 miles per hour (1,127 kilometers per hour).

• From colonies on Mars to Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s multifarious projects

  Merging brain with AI

  In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup that is reportedly trying to create brain-computer interfaces by integrating the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI). The project is currently at an early stage of development.

  Author: Srinivas Mazumdaru

The Tesla CEO did not immediately provide details on the factory size or the number of employees. At the same time, the company started listing jobs for the Germany site on Tuesday.

Read more (from 2018):Wooing Tesla: Eastern Germans vie for Elon Musk’s attention

Musk has been speculating on a European production site for several years, and various European countries have mounted campaigns to lure the manufacturer to their soil. Tesla also considered multiple sites within Germany, with Musk saying that “the German-French border makes sense” as a factory location.

The Tesla compound in Berlin would be designated as Gigafactory 4, following the Gigafactory 1 in the US state of Nevada, Gigafactory 2 in the state of New York, and the yet-unfinished Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai.

“Tesla is coming to Brandenburg with a big investment,” Dietmar Woidke, state premier of Brandenburg, which surrounds
Berlin, said in a statement. “We lobbied for this for a long time in intensive talks and with good arguments.”

dv, dj, jsi/se (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

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