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Tesla Giga Berlin seems on track to start Model Y production later than Giga Texas
In a recent statement to German media, Brandenburg Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach stated that he expects the final approval for Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin facility to be released sometime in the fourth quarter of 2021. If this comes to pass, Model Y production in the facility would be starting several months or so later than expected, which may not seem like too much of a delay. It may, however, result in Gigafactory Texas, a facility that started its buildout several months after the Germany-based factory, starting its Model Y production earlier than its Germany-based sibling.
As per a report from Berlin.de, Steinbach stated that the principle of quality over speed applies in the approval process of Gigafactory Berlin. “The principle of quality over speed clearly applies in the approval process. The top priority is that the decision of the State Office for the Environment is ultimately legally secure. And the factory can only be opened once a positive approval decision has been made,” the minister said.
If the State Environment Agency refuses to grant Gigafactory Berlin’s final approval, Tesla would have to dismantle all the structures it has built on the massive Grünheide complex, which includes a plant designed to produce the Tesla Model Y. Tesla would also have to replace the monoculture forest that it cut down in the area. Steinbach, however, noted that he considers a final veto from the Environmental Agency to be practically impossible. “This is not about the approval of a new nuclear power plant,” he said.
Inasmuch as Giga Berlin is supported by the Economics Minister, there is no denying that the project is meeting a substantial amount of pushback from local entities. Legal challenges from the Naturschutzbund (Nabu) and the Green League over Giga Berlin’s latest early approval aside, Tesla is also being investigated by the Brandenburg’s State Environment Agency for allegedly constructing a refrigerant tank (which may still be empty) without permission. The complaints about Giga Berlin’s alleged “illegal” tanks were filed by the two environmental groups, and are cruelty being handled by the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court (OVG).
Similar issues have so far not plagued Gigafactory Texas. Since its announcement on the Q2 2020 earnings call, Giga Texas’ construction has been relatively smooth. It’s been roughly 350 days since the massive Texas-based facility was announced, and so far, trial runs for parts of the plant’s Model Y production line are already underway. Elon Musk even noted on Twitter back in April that limited production of the Model Y would begin in Gigafactory Texas this year, with volume production hitting its pace in 2022.
What is quite interesting is that Gigafactory Texas’s footprint exceeds that of Gigafactory Berlin. Tesla adopted a different pattern for Giga Texas by building large sections of the full factory immediately, and so far, such a strategy seems to be working well. However, what truly differentiates the Texas plant from its Germany-based counterpart is the amount of pushback against the project as a whole. While Giga Berlin could barely move these days without encountering loud complaints and legal actions from the Naturschutzbund (Nabu) and the Green League — or local news agencies for that matter — Giga Texas has so far been met with support.
This is quite an unfortunate situation overall, as Gigafactory Berlin actually started out strong. Following its initial announcement in November 2019, Giga Berlin’s first months showed a lot of progress, so much so that it seemed like the facility may be built faster than Gigafactory Shanghai, whose Model 3 factory was built and launched in less than a year. But just like Giga Texas, Gigafactory Shanghai was also constructed without much drama. Since its groundbreaking in January 2019, Tesla’s China-based facility has grown steadily, and today, it is already poised to export the Made-in-China Model Y to European territories.
Tesla opened orders for the Model Y in Europe recently, and the all-electric crossovers would likely be coming from Giga Shanghai. One could almost assume that Tesla opted for this strategy due to the delays in Giga Berlin. The Grünheide facility, after all, was initially expected to start Model Y production sometime in the latter half of 2021. But if Brandenburg’s Economics Minister optimistically believes that Giga Berlin’s final approval would be granted in the fourth quarter, then having Giga Shanghai’s Made-in-China Model Ys pick up the slack may indeed be a good idea.
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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
