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Tesla’s 2024 highlights and challenges at Giga Berlin

Credit: Tesla Manufacturing/X

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Tesla has shared a new recap video for its vehicle factory in Germany, recalling many of the site’s top highlights for the year—as well as some of the challenges the factory faced.

In a Tuesday post on the company’s Manufacturing X page, Tesla shared a video pointing to how much it has accomplished at its Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg this year, despite many of the challenges the team faced from start to finish in 2024. These especially included some of Tesla’s factory closures and multiple attempts by environmental activists to derail the company’s production plans, seemingly to very little avail.

Tesla’s Giga Berlin produces the company’s Model Y crossover for much of Europe and surrounding markets. In January, Tesla’s Giga Berlin was forced to halt production due to armed conflicts in the Red Sea, causing a halt in output starting on January 29. However, the company managed to resume production at full speed by February 12.

READ MORE ON TESLA’S GIGA BERLIN: Tesla shows off solar, Powerwall-backed display at Giga Berlin

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Then, just a month later in March, Tesla was forced to halt production at Giga Berlin once again. This time, the pause was due to an arson attack on the factory’s main power substation, with the environmental activist organization Vulcan Group claiming responsibility for the attack.

The group went on to say that it was aiming to stop production at the factory, due to environmental issues with Tesla overall, Elon Musk, and what it called “technofascism.” After a little more than a week, Tesla managed to resume production at Giga Berlin, and Musk later went on to call for the attackers to be caught and punished, while one Minister tried to encourage Musk and Tesla to focus on their public relations efforts.

In May, activists also attempted to storm Giga Berlin and get inside, causing injuries of at least one protestor and three police officers. The company continued to face protest efforts from environmental activist groups throughout the year, with some that same month also creating treehouses in nearby forests that Tesla planned to chop down for its upcoming factory expansion.

Although Tesla promised to re-plant three times as many trees as it removed, the protestors remained active in the area up through last month, when police finally managed to vacate the groups and dismantle their treehouses.

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Despite all of these barriers, Tesla’s video also highlights many of the things Tesla did for its employees, along with reaching 500,000 drive units in August and 400,000 total Model Y units built at Giga Berlin by September. You can check out Tesla’s full 2024 recap video from Giga Berlin below.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla Giga Berlin plant manager still optimistic despite Germany’s EV market

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk hints what Tesla’s new vehicle will be

After Musk’s post earlier this week, many considered the possibility that the Tesla CEO was potentially talking about the Roadster, which is slated for an unveiling (again) next month. Some considered the possibility of the Robovan, which was unveiled back in 2024.

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Credit: Grok

Elon Musk hinted at what Tesla’s new vehicle will be just a day or so after he essentially confirmed the company is developing something that will eventually be available for consumers.

Earlier this week, Musk said that something “way cooler than a minivan” was on the way from Tesla after a fan posted on X that the company needed to build something for larger families. Requesting this type of vehicle has been a move of many Tesla fans over the years, but now, the urgency is even higher for this type of car because of the company’s decision to sunset the Model X.

Following reports of Musk’s plans to build something that will be cooler than a minivan, speculation consisted of what could possibly be on the way.

Tesla has teased a CyberSUV for quite a while, and there were even some clay models built by the company that were strategically placed in a promotional video.

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After Musk’s post earlier this week, many considered the possibility that the Tesla CEO was potentially talking about the Roadster, which is slated for an unveiling (again) next month. Some considered the possibility of the Robovan, which was unveiled back in 2024.

However, a new post from Musk seems to indicate that it will be a new project altogether. After one follower of Musk’s said:

“If Tesla makes a car with 3 rows of seats, each with its own pair of doors so nobody has to climb over anybody else to get to their seat, they will create a baby boom the likes of which we haven’t seen in 80 years.”

Musk’s reply was simple but definitely shed more insight into the company’s plans, as he said:

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“Noted.”

Musk’s simple one-word answer might be enough to essentially expect something large, like a full-sized SUV. This would be an incredible addition to the Tesla lineup, especially as the Model X is going away.

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Even the Model X is not quite big enough, and not comparable to vehicles like the Chevrolet Tahoe, so a three-row, six-door SUV might be exactly what Tesla fans want.

It certainly does not sound like Tesla is planning to launch the Model Y L in the U.S., at least not exclusively, or use that car, which is currently built in China, to solve the needs of a larger family.

Tesla gives big hint that it will build Cyber SUV, smaller Cybertruck

It seems the time has certainly come for Tesla to answer the call of what consumers want. This has long been requested, and although the company’s sights are ultimately set on achieving full autonomy, there is still a need for larger families, and a full-size SUV could be a great addition for Tesla as it moves into the second quarter of 2026.

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Tesla’s newest “Folding V4 Superchargers” are key to its most aggressive expansion yet

Tesla’s folding V4 Supercharger ships 33% more per truck, cuts deployment time and cost significantly.

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Tesla V4 Supercharger installation ramping in Europe

Tesla is rolling out a folding V4 Supercharger design, an engineering change that allows 33% more units to fit on a single delivery truck, cuts deployment time in half, and reduces overall installation cost by roughly 20%.

The folding mechanism addresses one of the least glamorous but most consequential bottlenecks in charging infrastructure: getting hardware from factory floor to job site efficiently. By collapsing the form factor for transit and unfolding into an operational configuration on arrival, the new design dramatically reduces the logistics overhead that has historically slowed Supercharger rollouts, particularly at large or remote sites where multiple units are needed simultaneously.

The timing aligns with a broader acceleration in Tesla’s network strategy. In March 2026, Tesla’s Gigafactory New York produced its final V3 Supercharger cabinet after more than seven years and 15,000 units, pivoting entirely to V4 cabinet production. The V4 cabinet itself is already a generational leap, delivering up to 500 kW per stall for passenger vehicles and up to 1.2 MW for the Tesla Semi, while supporting twice the stalls per cabinet at three times the power density of its predecessor. The folding transport innovation layers logistical efficiency on top of that technical foundation.

Tesla launches first ‘true’ East Coast V4 Supercharger: here’s what that means

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Tesla Charging’s Director Max de Zegher, commenting on the V4 cabinet when it launched, captured the operational philosophy behind these changes: “Posts can peak up to 500kW for cars, but we need less than 1MW across 8 posts to deliver maximum power to cars 99% of the time.” The design philosophy has always been about maximizing real-world throughput, not just peak specs, and the folding transport upgrade extends that thinking into the supply chain itself.

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Elon Musk

The Boring Company clears final Nashville hurdle: Music City loop is full speed ahead

The Boring Company has cleared its final Nashville hurdles, putting the Music City Loop on track for 2026.

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The Boring Company has cleared one of its most significant regulatory milestones yet, securing a key easement from the Music City Center in Nashville just days ago, the latest in a series of approvals that have pushed the Music City Loop project firmly into construction reality.

On March 24, 2026, the Convention Center Authority voted to grant The Boring Company access to an easement along the west side of the Music City Center property, allowing tunneling beneath the privately owned venue. The move follows a unanimous 7-0 vote by the Metro Nashville Airport Authority on February 18, and a joint state and federal approval from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration on February 25. Together, these green lights have cleared the path for a roughly 10-mile underground tunnel connecting downtown Nashville to Nashville International Airport, with potential extensions into midtown along West End Avenue.

Music City Loop could highlight The Boring Company’s real disruption

Nashville was selected by The Boring Company largely because of its rapid population growth and the strain that growth has placed on surface infrastructure. Traffic has become a persistent problem for residents, convention visitors, and airport travelers alike. The Music City Loop promises an approximately 8-minute underground transit time between downtown and the Nashville International Airport (BNA), removing thousands of vehicles from surface roads daily while operating as a fully electric, zero-emissions system at no cost to taxpayers.

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The project fits squarely within a broader vision Musk has championed for years. In responding to a breakdown of the Loop’s construction costs, Musk posted on X: “Tunnels are so underrated.” The comment reflected a longstanding belief that underground transit represents one of the most cost-effective and scalable infrastructure solutions available. The Boring Company has claimed it can build 13 miles of twin tunnels in Nashville for between $240 million and $300 million total, a fraction of what comparable projects cost elsewhere in the country.

The Las Vegas Loop, The Boring Company’s first operational system, has served as a proof of concept. During the CONEXPO trade show in March 2026, the Vegas Loop transported approximately 82,000 passengers over five days at the Las Vegas Convention Center, demonstrating the system’s capacity during large-scale events. Nashville draws millions of convention visitors and tourists each year, and local business leaders have pointed to that same capacity as a major draw for supporting the project.

The Music City Loop was first announced in July 2025. Construction began within hours of the February 25 state approval, with The Boring Company’s Prufrock tunneling machine already in the ground the same evening. The first operational segment is targeted for late 2026, with the full route expected to be complete by 2029. The project represents one of the largest privately funded infrastructure efforts currently underway in the United States.

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