Musk Bares Tesla Plans For Redesigned Model Y, Gruenheide Facility, More
U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla will utilize its facility in Brandenburg, Germany, to show a radical overhaul of how its vehicles are built. The company will also demonstrate how its electric car battery cells and battery packs are made. Apart from those, Tesla will also use its first facility in Europe to make a redesigned Model Y.
The latest plan of the company came directly from its CEO Elon Musk. He shared that Tesla will detail improvements on how it assembles vehicles. The CEO visited the Gruenheide site last Thursday and told reporters that the facility under-construction would have the most advanced paint shop.
The facility will also implement added original design and engineering measures, the CEO added. It will not be just a copy of the Tesla Model Y but a radical redesign of the core technology of building a car, Musk said. More details would be revealed at the upcoming Battery Day event on September 22, Musk added.
It would be the first time that Tesla would do a transformation in the core structural design of the vehicle. The company, aside from building vehicles, would also want to speed up the transition to sustainable energy, the CEO noted. "The three elements needed for a sustainable energy future are sustainable energy generation, energy storage, and sustainable transport, electric cars," Musk said.
The Tesla CEO has been in Germany since September 1 and has visited Curevac Gmbh-a pharmaceutical company. He went to Berlin to meet Germany's Economy Minister Peter Altmaier and several other politicians. The Tesla factory in Gruenheide will be the company's first facility in Europe.
It aims to assemble as many as 500,000 vehicles a year. The facility in Gruenheide is Tesla's European expansion and Musk's attempt to attack German automakers. It is scheduled to commence production in the summer of next year.
Over the past months, local officials have supported Tesla's project. Construction of the site has been relatively smooth, and the company is now waiting for its final approval. Several locals have protested earlier on the cutting down of trees for the facility on areas with tight water resources.
Elon Musk previously attempted to appease concerned locals. He previously said that the factory would not consume a lot of water and that it would recycle water as much as possible for efficiency's sake. According to Musk, he is confident that the facility in Gruenheide would be the most environmentally friendly facility in the world. He said the company welcomes advice and criticisms for the things that could make them do better.