Gary Zhou 
Initially, when Elon Musk said that Gigafactory Berlin will be developed in the same speed or even faster than Gigafactory Shanghai, many were suspicious, and some critics even took it upon themselves to ridicule the ambitious timetable for the facility by the CEO. As construction began on the vast plot of land and buildings began to be built in record time, the teasing stopped as usual. Needless to say, nobody is laughing anymore.
A group of Tesla enthusiasts, who took it upon themselves to track and share developments of the upcoming vehicle production facility through photographs and videos, has documented the rapid buildout of Gigafactory Berlin. As recent videos and photos showed, the roofing for Tesla’s drive unit facility in the Phase 1 area of the Giga Berlin seems near completion.
Among the most notable projects on the massive site was the building of the drive unit facility in Giga Berlin. Prefabricated pillars and walls were mounted promptly in the facility after their pile-driving point, and it did not take long before construction on the roof began. Other facilities in the Phase 1 zone, including the Body-in-White house, soon began to take shape as well.
Several changes were observed on Giga Berlin over the last weekend alone. Apart from the almost completed roofing of the drive unit building, the paint shop’s great hall has also seen a lot of development. Pillars have also been set up in what is thought to be the press area, pending the completion of their prefabricated pillars. As cherry on top, all the roads in the Giga Berlin complex are now overlaid with asphalt, making it easier for trucks and other heavy equipment to work at the site.
Interestingly enough, Tesla CEO Elon Musk extended his open support to members of the group and enthusiasts who took it upon themselves to record Gigafactory Berlin’s growth. When one of the drone operators taking videos of the area were confronted by the area’s security, for example, the Tesla CEO took to Twitter to state that he is personally fine with footage being taken of the site. “I’m fine with reasonable drone footage. Just needs to be at a fair distance & not coming right up to people. I think our security was a little overzealous in this case,” Musk wrote.
The Model Y production is scheduled to begin at Gigafactory Berlin sometime next year. To be sure, such a goal is extremely optimistic but there is no denying that the upcoming facility’s Phase 1 zone has been unbelievably fast in its development. With such a speed, Musk’s goals could, after all, very well be feasible. Local development of the Model Y in Germany should also come in time, as other all-electric crossovers from veteran carmakers such as Volkswagen are also expected to be released soon.
Here’s a video of Gigafactory Berlin’s progress.
Reported by Teslarati.
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