News
Tesla ramps pace of construction at German factory site: July update
Tesla Giga Berlin is receiving its first concrete flooring slabs as the company continues to ramp the construction process of its first European production facility.
Photos from Thomas Petersohn and @Gf4Tesla that were shared on July 6 show crews using cranes to transport the massive concrete flooring slabs into the Giga Berlin property. The floors were first transported to the site by the trains Tesla has been using for several months for moving materials into the property.
Tesla’s contracted construction crews who have been working to develop the land of the Giga Berlin property started laying down foundational work in early June. By the time June had come to a close, Tesla had successfully completed the installation of foundational settings in a portion of the land where the main facility will eventually stand.
Tesla has had approval from local government officials to begin foundational work since mid-May. Now that the construction crews have set several foundational areas into place, the teams of workers can start installing the flooring that will support the 12,000 workers that will produce Tesla’s electric vehicles at Giga Berlin.
Monday july 06 / 2020
The week begins with the unloading of the reinforced concrete floors.🏗
Delivered by train.Photo credit: @RalfThomas pic.twitter.com/pLcdQtHyCM
— Gigafactory Berlin News (@Gf4Tesla) July 6, 2020
Tesla’s progress on its Giga Berlin facility has accelerated despite the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. Although the facility has encountered brief delays since its initial ground clearing projects during the first days of 2020, Giga Berlin is taking shape quickly and is on schedule for its initial production phase of the Model Y in July 2021.
In late June, the site saw perhaps its most extensive development period after crews made several steps forward in the development of the site. A fourth tower crane was installed to help with the efficient moving of heavy objects, and a new excavation project was also spotted on-site as well.
The installation of new gravel roads also occurred. These temporary roads are crucial for construction vehicles. Not only do the gravel roads create a more stable driving experience for the large construction trucks, but they also can prevent the trucks from sinking into the mud if it were to rain on site.
Satellite dishes were also spotted on top of the construction containers where supervisors and project managers will oversee the project.
Tesla will begin building half a million vehicles annually at Giga Berlin starting in July 2021. The Model Y is the first vehicle that will be produced, but Tesla will introduce other cars in its fleet afterward. Not only will the site be home to a massive production facility, but also a world-class paint shop that will revolutionize the way Tesla’s vehicles appear. CEO Elon Musk said the new paint colors would change with the contour and curves of the company’s vehicle’s body.
Although paint has been an issue for Tesla in the past, the company continues to work toward improving the quality of its colors. This project will begin in Germany at Giga Berlin.
Cybertruck
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
🚨 Tesla has updated the $59,990 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD’s estimated delivery date to April 2027.
First deliveries are still slated for June, but if you order it now, you’ll be waiting over a year.
Demand appears to be off the charts for the new Cybertruck and consumers are… pic.twitter.com/raDCCeC0zP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 26, 2026
Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.
The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.
Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.
That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.
Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says
Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.
It features:
- Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
- Powered tonneau cover
- Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
- Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
- Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
- Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
- 6’ x 4’ composite bed
- Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
- Powered frunk
Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.Â
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.Â
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.