Tesla Giga Berlin will have a battery cell production facility, and the question just comes down to when. Appropriately enough, when the company finds the help it needs to get the cell production portion of the facility underway, Tesla will start manufacturing batteries. The real shortcoming is the fact that the required talent isn’t available, and high rates of employee turnover could lead to delays in the company’s plans to produce cells in Germany.
Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Senior VP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino what issues Tesla may encounter on its journey toward full-scale cell production at the future German plant.
“Will there be the battery capacity consistence with the amount of assembly volume you expect to come out of the — And if not, would you be able to source your battery requirements out of Europe? Or would you have to import batteries from outside Europe to ensure production in Berlin,” Houchois asked the two Tesla execs during the Q2 2020 Earnings Call.
Musk confirmed that Giga Berlin would have cell manufacturing that would handle the production load that comes out of the facility, but Drew Baglino gave more detail on what the delays could be. Hint: It has to do with a lack of available talent.
Baglino mostly added onto Musk’s comment, confirming that a cell production facility would be in Berlin eventually. Still, it depends on when the company can put together a sufficient battery manufacturing team at the new Gigafactory.
“Like the same goes in all areas of cell, supply chain, manufacturing materials, design, we are solving this problem, and we’re treating it like any other problem that we have solved. We will solve this problem, talented people to join us as we solve this problem,” Baglino said.
Once the workers get there, they need to stay. They can’t be in “the garden,” as Musk calls it.
“My biggest concern for getting our talented people is just probably Berlin because the labor mobility in Europe is not as low. I would recommend changing this. Like somebody wants to leave and join another company,” Musk said. “Sometimes they have to spend six months on garden leave. It’s called garden, hanging out in the garden basically, and like this is not a good use of people’s time. I mean, if they want us to hang out on the garden, that’s fine, but they shouldn’t have to.”
Interestingly enough, workers leaving Tesla to join other companies is a relevant issue. Tesla has filed multiple lawsuits, most recently against fellow electric carmaker Rivian, that accused the company of poaching employees. Tesla also has an open case with China-based Xpeng.
But either way, Tesla needs the workforce, and manufacturing jobs for Giga Berlin are of high availability, according to the company’s Career page.
Earlier in the call, Musk and Baglino both talked about the need for manufacturing workers who would be willing to help the company improve production lines.
For a long time, Musk has stated that Tesla is looking for brilliant minds to help revolutionize the way the company manufactures vehicles. The CEO has said that too many smart people end up going into medicine or law, and improvements to manufacturing are needed as well.
Battery cell shortages were inhibiting Tesla from starting projects in other locations. One of those projects was the Tesla Semi, which Elon Musk indicated would begin a “volume production” push later this year.
The issue with producing the Semi beforehand was a shortage of battery cells. But now that the company has openly committed to building the commercial truck at Giga Texas, there is an indication that battery shortages are not an issue any longer.
The cells are there, but the workers are not. Tesla will eventually build these cells in Germany. Still, there needs to be an accommodating team to handle the workload, especially considering half a million vehicles a year will be rolling off the production lines starting in July 2021.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk shares ridiculous fact about Optimus’ hand demos
It appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.
Elon Musk recently revealed something quite shocking about the Optimus demonstration hand that was showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. As per the CEO, the complex robotic hand that impressed the event’s attendees was not a component of Optimus V3 at all.
Needless to say, it appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.
Optimus’s hand
Even in Tesla’s We, Robot event last year, the company showcased a robotic hand that seemed capable of performing complex tasks. A similar hand was showcased at the recent investor event. It was then no surprise that some attendees and EV community members assumed that the robotic component, which was very dexterous, was a preview of Optimus V3’s hand.
As per Elon Musk in a recent post on X, however, this was not the case. While the robotic hand that Tesla showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting was already very impressive, it was still a V2 component. In response to a quote post from his mom Maye Musk, who noted that “Elon told me a few times that the hand is the most difficult part of the robot,” Elon Musk clarified that the impressive component was still from Optimus V2.
“This is just the V2 Optimus hand. The V3 hand is another level beyond this. Exquisite engineering,” Musk wrote in his post on X.
Not like Tesla
Tesla is designing Optimus to be a potential replacement for humans in some of the world’s most delicate tasks, such as surgery. It is then extremely important for Optimus’ hand to be very dexterous and refined in its movements. This is something that even companies that are also producing humanoid robots have yet to accomplish fully. Musk highlighted this during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, when he discussed how Tesla is really the only company that can scale humanoid robots properly.
“You will see certainly many companies showing demonstration robots. There’s really three things that are super difficult about robots. One is the engineering of the forearm and hand because the human hand is an incredible thing, actually. It’s super dexterous.
“So, engineering the hand really well, the real-world AI, and then volume manufacturing. Those are generally the things that are missing. One or more of those things are missing from other companies. So Tesla is the only one that has all three of those,” Musk said.
Energy
Tesla starts hiring efforts for Texas Megafactory
Tesla’s Brookshire site is expected to produce 10,000 Megapacks annually, equal to 40 gigawatt hours of energy storage.
Tesla has officially begun hiring for its new $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, a manufacturing hub expected to employ 1,500 people by 2028. The facility, which will build Tesla’s grid-scale Megapack batteries, is part of the company’s growing energy storage footprint.
Tesla’s hiring efforts for the Texas Megafactory are hinted at by the job openings currently active on the company’s Careers website.
Tesla’s Texas Megafactory
Tesla’s Brookshire site is expected to produce 10,000 Megapacks annually, equal to 40 gigawatt hours of energy storage, similar to the Lathrop Megafactory in California. Tesla’s Careers website currently lists over 30 job openings for the site, from engineers, welders, and project managers. Each of the openings is listed for Brookshire, Texas.
The company has leased two buildings in Empire West Business Park, with over $194 million in combined property and equipment investment. Tesla’s agreement with Waller County includes a 60% property tax abatement, contingent on meeting employment benchmarks: 375 jobs by 2026, 750 by 2027, and 1,500 by 2028, as noted in a report from the Houston Business Journal. Tesla is required to employ at least 1,500 workers in the facility through the rest of the 10-year abatement period.
Tesla’s clean energy boom
City officials have stated that Tesla’s arrival marks a turning point for the Texas city, as it highlights a shift from logistics to advanced clean energy manufacturing. Ramiro Bautista from Brookshire’s economic development office, highlighted this in a comment to the Journal.
“(Tesla) has great-paying jobs. Not just that, but the advanced manufacturing (and) clean energy is coming to the area,” he said. “So it’s not just your normal logistics manufacturing. This is advanced manufacturing coming to this area, and this brings a different type of job and investment into the local economy.”
News
Tesla Giga Shanghai just built its 5 millionth battery pack
The achievement highlights Giga Shanghai’s role as the automaker’s highest volume manufacturing complex.
Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has reached a major production milestone, with its five millionth battery pack rolling off the line this week.
The achievement highlights Giga Shanghai’s role as the automaker’s highest volume manufacturing complex and primary vehicle export hub.
Giga Shanghai’s new milestone
Tesla announced the milestone on X and Weibo, sharing images from the facility where the five millionth pack was completed. Images showed the Giga Shanghai team posing for a commemorative photo with the facility’s five millionth battery pack. Several of the company’s executives congratulated the Tesla China team for its recent milestone, including SVP Tom Zhu, who wrote “Power up, team!” in a post on X.
While Tesla designs and assembles its battery packs in China, the cells themselves are supplied by local partner CATL and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, as noted in a CNEV Post report. Tesla China has stated that its pack safety standards exceed industry norms several times over, with longevity engineered to outlast vehicle lifespans.
Giga Shanghai’s growing role
Construction of Giga Shanghai began in early 2019, becoming China’s first wholly foreign-owned auto manufacturing facility. Giga Shanghai’s first phase was completed within the year, producing Model 3 sedans by the end of 2019. It now produces both Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs for domestic and export markets, with an annual capacity approaching one million vehicles.
Despite the record-setting battery milestone, Tesla China’s recent domestic results left a lot to be desired. As per the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla’s retail sales in October dropped 36% year over year to 26,006 units, the lowest since late 2022. Analysts attributed the decline to Giga Shanghai’s focus on exports last month, as well as the ramp of compelling rivals like the Xiaomi YU7.
Elon Musk shares ridiculous fact about Optimus’ hand demos
Tesla starts hiring efforts for Texas Megafactory
Tesla Giga Shanghai just built its 5 millionth battery pack
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