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Tesla Giga Berlin primed for production ramp, according to German officials

(Credit: Tobias Lindh/YouTube)

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German officials have stated that the Tesla Giga Berlin facility is ready for a dramatic production ramp during a meeting with the IG Metall labor union.

German officials from the state of Grünheide met this morning with representatives of IG Metall, a labor union representing metal workers in Germany, regarding the Tesla Giga Berlin facility. And according to the Economic Minister of the State, Jörg Steinbach, the Tesla facility should push for a production ramp.

At the podium, the minister stated, “[Tesla production] has to grow up a bit more,” leading to the question, why does the minister think the ramp is possible? While the Economic Minister, Mr. Steinbach, was not immediately available for comment regarding why he believes Giga Berlin is capable of production growth, two main factors are likely contributing to his confidence; a growing number of staff and a physical expansion of the plant.

Since beginning production less than a year ago, the facility has already been working on expanding rapidly. This has included a physical expansion of the property and a near-constant hiring frenzy. This has allowed the facility, which currently produces Tesla’s Model Y, to reach higher and higher production numbers.

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Giving some scale to the situation, according to comments reported by Reuters, Tesla has consistently been onboarding roughly 200-300 people per week, now hitting a total workforce of 9,000. At the same time, other local manufacturers have continually struggled with workforce acquisition.

As for the physical expansion of the plant, Tesla has not only cleared sections of forest to make room for production expansion in the future, but the company has also opened parallel facilities to deal with manufacturing waste and recycling.

However, it hasn’t been all good news surrounding the German Tesla facility. IG Metall, the union that organized today’s talks, has alleged that workers at the facility aren’t receiving adequate time off or rest. Further, it noted that employees at the facility have not felt able to bring these concerns to their superiors. Tesla has yet to respond to these allegations, and it remains unclear if working conditions have been changed in response.

With the added demand from Tesla’s recent price cut, added production of one of the company’s most popular models would be a great help. The record high for Model Y production was reached at the end of last year, with 3,000 vehicles produced per week at the Berlin facility. While no estimates were provided at the meeting regarding how high production numbers could go, many anticipate the production ceiling is now far higher.

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As European Tesla sales continue to grow in the new year, Giga Berlin will become an ever more important production location for the American automaker. Hopefully, Tesla will be able to limit wait times and implement a production ramp quickly in the first quarter of this year.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Tesla gathers Cybercab fleet in Gigafactory Texas

Images and video of the Cybercab fleet were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.

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Credit: Credit: @JoeTegtmeyer/X

Tesla appears to be assembling a growing number of Cybercabs at Gigafactory Texas as preparations continue for the vehicle’s mass production. Recent footage shared online has shown over 30 Cybercabs being transported by trucks or staged near testing areas at the facility.

The images and video were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.

Interestingly enough, Tegtmeyer noted that many of the Cybercabs being loaded onto transport trucks were still equipped with steering wheels. This suggests that the vehicles are likely testing units rather than the final driverless configuration expected for the company’s Robotaxi service.

The vehicles could potentially be headed to testing sites across the United States as Tesla prepares to expand its Robotaxi fleet.

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Additional footage captured at Gigafactory Texas also showed the Cybercab’s side and rear camera washer system operating as vehicles were being loaded onto transport trucks.

The growing number of Cybercabs at Giga Texas comes amidst the company’s announcement that the first production Cybercab has been produced at the facility. Full Cybercab production is expected to begin in April.

The vehicle is expected to play a central role in Tesla’s Robotaxi ambitions as the company looks to expand autonomous ride-hailing operations beyond its early deployments using Model Y vehicles.

Tesla has also linked Cybercab production to its proposed Unboxed manufacturing process, which assembles large vehicle modules separately before integrating them. The approach is intended to reduce production costs and accelerate output.

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Musk has also noted that the Cybercab’s ramp will likely begin slowly due to the number of new components and manufacturing steps involved. However, he stated that once the process matures, Cybercab production could scale quickly.

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Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday

xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post. 

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has marked its third anniversary. The update was shared in a post from the xAI Memphis account on social media platform X.

xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post

As per xAI, it has built three massive data centers in the city, launched a coherent cluster of 330,000 GBs, created over 3,000 jobs, and paid over $30 million in taxes to local communities.

xAI’s Memphis operation has become a key part of the company’s infrastructure as the company works to train and deploy its Grok artificial intelligence models. Elon Musk has been quite optimistic about Grok’s potential, noting in the past that the large language model might have a shot at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). 

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xAI’s Memphis’ crown jewel is its Colossus supercomputer cluster. The project was announced in 2024 and has since become the home of one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. The first phase of Colossus reached its initial 100,000 GPU operational milestone in just 122 days, or just about four months.

Industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have praised the facility, noting that projects of similar scale typically take two to four years to complete.

xAI has cited Memphis’ central location, skilled workforce, and industrial infrastructure as key reasons for selecting the city as the home of its AI training operations. The company has also emphasized plans to expand the site further as it scales compute capacity for Grok and future AI models.

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Tesla Sweden’s Megapack Supercharger near Arlanda continues to aggravate IF Metall union

The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.

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Credit: Tesla Charging/X

Tesla Sweden’s Megapack-powered Supercharger station near Arlanda Airport has continued to aggravate Swedish labor union IF Metall. The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.

Comments about the site were shared by IF Metall representatives in remarks to Swedish publication CarUp.

The Arlandastad location includes eight Tesla Superchargers powered by a Megapack battery system. Unlike traditional charging stations that rely on direct grid connections, the site uses a large battery installation to store electricity and power the chargers.

According to the Swedish publication, the setup allowed the station to come online despite sympathy measures from Sweden’s electricians’ union, which has attempted to prevent companies from cooperating with Tesla as part of the broader labor conflict.

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IF Metall press manager Jesper Pettersson indicated that the union was not aware that the Superchargers had already been connected and activated.

“We do not know the details around this. But it is further proof of how Tesla systematically finds loopholes to circumvent the sympathy measures through active strikebreaking. Every time this happens it gives us reason to sharpen our conflict measures,” Pettersson said.

Union representatives also noted that the Megapack appears to be charged using electrical cables routed through nearby terrain, though the exact power source remains under review.

The Megapack-powered site has then prompted questions from Swedish labor unions about how electricity is being supplied to the system.

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IF Metall has submitted a report to Sweden’s Energy Market Inspectorate asking the regulator to review whether the electricity supply arrangement complies with national regulations. The Megapack is reportedly charged using electricity from a local company, though the provider has not been publicly identified.

Peter Lydell, an ombudsman at IF Metall, previously stated that Swedish law limits electricity trading to companies with proper authorization.

“The legislation states that only companies that engage in electricity trading may supply electricity to other parties. You may not supply electricity without a permit, then you are engaging in illegal electricity trading. That is why we have reported this… 

“This is about a company that helps Tesla circumvent the conflict measures that exist. It is clear that it is troublesome and it can also have consequences,” Lydell said.

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IF Metall and Tesla Sweden’s conflict has been going on for over two years now. 

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