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Tesla Giga Berlin August update: Body In White begins, Drive Unit nears completion

Credit: YouTube | FlyBrandenburg

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Tesla Giga Berlin’s construction continues to move along at a rapid pace, and the first beams of the “Body in White” portion of the facility have been erected as of this morning.

Body in White is the stage in automotive manufacturing where the frame of a car body is joined together. It is often the point where the final contours of a vehicle’s body are worked out in preparation for the stamping process.

In Berlin, this portion of Tesla’s Giga Berlin production plant is being built and is accelerating nicely ahead of the company’s planned initial production runs in July 2021.

Photos from @gigafactory_4 on Twitter show the progress that is being made on the Body in White building, with vertical beams being installed into the foundation of the property.

Vertical beams of the Body in White structure at Giga Berlin. (Credit: @gigafactory_4 on Twitter)

The Body in White building is where most of the initial manufacturing process will occur. When the Model Y begins production at the facility next year, the vehicle’s chassis will be built in this structure with a simplified manufacturing process, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk detailed the Berlin Model Y’s details during the company’s Q2 2020 Earnings Call, where he said that the design of the Germany-built crossover would be modified to increase manufacturing ability.

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“And we’re really changing the design of the car in order to make it more manufacturable,” Musk said. “The fundamental architecture of Model Y will be different in Berlin, it may look the same, but the internals will be quite different and fundamentally more efficient architecturally than what we’ve done to date.”

Giga Berlin’s progress is accelerating quickly, thanks to the construction methods that are being used.

Tesla’s contracted construction crews on the site are utilizing prefabricated methods of building to decrease the amount of time it takes to put the structures together. The prefabricated process requires some portions of buildings to be put together at a separate location. These are then transported to the site and installed into the appropriate area.

The Drive Unit facility is the building that has the most progress done to it thus far. The Northern wall of the DU building is nearly complete after the first portions of the partition were erected on August 5, just six days ago.

The Northern wall of the Drive Unit is nearly completed. (Credit: @gigafactory_4 on Twitter)

Tesla expects Model Y production to begin at the plant next July. Despite the hot temperatures in Berlin, construction crews are moving along quickly in preparation for a massive push of Tesla’s electric vehicles in Europe next year.

A video of the Giga Berlin site is available below courtesy of FlyBrandenburg.

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https://youtu.be/a3x0RdXd1pw

 

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla China breaks 8-month slump by selling 71,599 vehicles wholesale in June

Tesla China’s June numbers were released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Tuesday.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla China was able to sell 71,599 vehicles wholesale in June 2025, reversing eight consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The figure marks a 0.83% increase from the 71,599 vehicles sold wholesale in June 2024 and a 16.1% jump compared to the 61,662 vehicles sold wholesale in May. 

Tesla China’s June numbers were released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Tuesday.

Tesla China’s June results in focus

Tesla produces both the Model 3 and Model Y at its Shanghai Gigafactory, which serves as the company’s primary vehicle export hub. Earlier this year, Tesla initiated a changeover for its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y, resulting in a drop in vehicle sales during the first and second quarters.

Tesla’s second-quarter China sales totaled 191,720 units including exports. While these numbers represent a 6.8% year-over-year decline for Tesla China, Q2 did show sequential improvement, rising about 11% from Q1 2025, as noted in a CNEV Post report.

For the first half of the year, Tesla sold 364,474 vehicles wholesale. This represents a 14.6% drop compared to the 426,623 units sold wholesale in the first half of 2024.

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China’s competitive local EV market

Tesla’s position in China is notable, especially as the new Model Y is gaining ground in the country’s BEV segment. That being said, Tesla is also facing competition from impressive local brands such as Xiaomi, whose new YU7 electric SUV is larger and more affordable than the Model Y. 

The momentum of the YU7 is impressive, as the vehicle was able to secure 200,000 firm orders within three minutes and over 240,000 locked-in orders within 18 hours. Xiaomi’s previous model, the SU7 electric sedan, which is aimed at the Tesla Model 3, also remains popular, with June deliveries surpassing 25,000 units for the ninth straight month.

While China’s EV market is getting more competitive, Tesla’s new Model Y is also ramping its production and deliveries. Needless to say, Tesla China’s results for the remaining two quarters of 2025 will be very interesting.

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Tesla reveals it is using AI to make factories more sustainable: here’s how

Tesla is using AI in its Gigafactory Nevada factory to improve HVAC efficiency.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has revealed in its Extended Impact Report for 2024 that it is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable its factories to be more sustainable. One example it used was its achievement of managing “the majority of the HVAC infrastructure at Gigafactory Nevada is now AI-controlled” last year.

In a commitment to becoming more efficient and making its production as eco-friendly as possible, Tesla has been working for years to find solutions to reduce energy consumption in its factories.

For example, in 2023, Tesla implemented optimization controls in the plastics and paint shops located at Gigafactory Texas, which increased the efficiency of natural gas consumption. Tesla plans to phase out natural gas use across its factories eventually, but for now, it prioritizes work to reduce emissions from that energy source specifically.

It also uses Hygrometric Control Logic for Air Handling Units at Giafactory Berlin, resulting in 17,000 MWh in energy savings each year. At Gigafactory Nevada, Tesla saves 9.5 GWh of energy through the use of N-Methylpyrrolidone refineries when extracting critical raw material.

Perhaps the most interesting way Tesla is conserving energy is through the use of AI at Gigafactory Nevada, as it describes its use of AI to reduce energy demand:

“In 2023, AI Control for HVAC was expanded from Nevada and Texas to now include our Berlin-Brandenburg and Fremont factories. AI Control policy enables HVAC systems within each factory to work together to process sensor data, model factory dynamics, and apply control actions that safely minimize the energy required to support production. In 2024, this system achieved two milestones: the majority of HVAC infrastructure at Gigafactory Nevada is now AI-controlled, reducing fan and thermal energy demand; and the AI algorithm was extended to manage entire chiller plants, creating a closed-loop control system that optimizes both chilled water consumption and the energy required for its generation, all while maintaining factory conditions.”

Tesla utilizes AI Control “primarily on systems that heat or cool critical factory production spaces and equipment.” AI Control communicates with the preexisting standard control logic of each system, and any issues can be resolved by quickly reverting back to standard control. There were none in 2024.

Tesla says that it is utilizing AI to drive impact at its factories, and it has proven to be a valuable tool in reducing energy consumption at one of its facilities.

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Tesla analysts believe Musk and Trump feud will pass

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump’s feud shall pass, several bulls say.

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The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald J. Trump purchases a Tesla on the South Lawn, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Tesla analysts are breaking down the current feud between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump, as the two continue to disagree on the “Big Beautiful Bill” and its impact on the country’s national debt.

Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump Administration, left his post in May. Soon thereafter, he and President Trump entered a very public and verbal disagreement, where things turned sour. They reconciled to an extent, and things seemed to be in the past.

However, the second disagreement between the two started on Monday, as Musk continued to push back on the “Big Beautiful Bill” that the Trump administration is attempting to sign into law. It would, by Musk’s estimation, increase spending and reverse the work DOGE did to trim the deficit.

President Trump has hinted that DOGE could be “the monster” that “eats Elon,” threatening to end the subsidies that SpaceX and Tesla receive. Musk has not been opposed to ending government subsidies for companies, including his own, as long as they are all abolished.

How Tesla could benefit from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that axes EV subsidies

Despite this contentious back-and-forth between the two, analysts are sharing their opinions now, and a few of the more bullish Tesla observers are convinced that this feud will pass, Trump and Musk will resolve their differences as they have before, and things will return to normal.

ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood said this morning that the feud between Musk and Trump is another example of “this too shall pass:”

Additionally, Wedbush’s Dan Ives, in a note to investors this morning, said that the situation “will settle:”

“We believe this situation will settle and at the end of the day Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk given the AI Arms Race going on between the US and China. The jabs between Musk and Trump will continue as the Budget rolls through Congress but Tesla investors want Musk to focus on driving Tesla and stop this political angle…which has turned into a life of its own in a roller coaster ride since the November elections.”

Tesla shares are down about 5 percent at 3:10 p.m. on the East Coast.

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