Could Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin Produce Over 500K Vehicles Annually?

Tesla Inc's (NASDAQ: TSLA) Gigafactory Berlin construction is moving quickly. Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk shared video of a factory taking shape, with most outer walls in place.

Gigafactory Berlin is expected to first produce the Tesla Model Y, with other vehicles coming online later. The Berlin factory will be the first to use Tesla's new 4680 battery cells. 

Gigafactory Berlin has 8 Gigapresses that will be used to make the Model Y and possibly other vehicles, according to Teslarati.

The current consensus puts Gigafactory Berlin's annual vehicle production rate at around 500,000, but Teslarati said that may be an underestimate because of the capabilities of the Gigapress.

The Gigapress is a house-sized machine that can output around 1,000 vehicle castings per day. Even accounting for down time, the presses could be capable of well over 500,000 vehicles per year. Some estimates on Twitter put the production capacity as high as 1.3 million vehicles per year. Other estimates covered by Teslarati predict that Tesla may eventually reach 2 million vehicles per year from this single factory.

Benzinga's Take: While vehicle production is one thing, battery production is another. Tesla has historically been battery constrained, not having enough cells to power all the vehicles it wants to produce, along with other products such as the Powerwall. With the Cybertruck and Plaid+ Model S coming online later this year, Tesla will need even more cells.

Luckily, the company is working hard to produce its 4680 cells, which will have many benefits. Tesla also continues to buy cells from suppliers such as LG Chem, Panasonic and CATL. 

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Photo courtesy of Tesla.