Tesla expands production in Grünheide and hires an additional 1,000 employees

Bottleneck in skilled workers for battery cell production

However, the search for personnel is not easy in all areas. Tesla is looking for numerous skilled workers for battery cell production, the spokesperson explained: "Wir benötigen hier sehr viele Fachkräfte, weshalb sich die Einstellungen etwas schwieriger gestalten." Recruitment for the area is nevertheless "in vollem Gange."

Production increase in two stages

In parallel with the expansion of the workforce, Tesla is planning a significant production boost. Already from July, weekly manufacturing at the site is to rise by a fifth to 6,200 vehicles. From October, management announced that the volume would be increased by another fifth to reach 7,500 vehicles per week. Extrapolated, this corresponds to around 375,000 cars per year.

The Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg was opened in March 2022. In an initial phase, Tesla had targeted annual production of 500,000 vehicles. Around two years ago, according to its own figures, around 12,400 people worked there. By this year, the number of employees had fallen by 1,700, according to the group. With the new plans, the workforce in vehicle production would grow back to around 12,700 employees.

Investments in battery cells and market development

Tesla also plans to hire around 1,500 additional employees for the ramp-up of battery cell production. As the company announced, this will create 3,500 additional jobs in the short and medium term in the area of vehicle and battery production at the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: "Zusammen mit der Einstellung von 1.500 Mitarbeitenden für den Hochlauf der Batteriezellfertigung sprechen wir von 3.500 zusätzlichen Arbeitsplätzen, die kurz- und mittelfristig im Bereich der Fahrzeug- und Batteriefertigung in der Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg geschaffen werden."

For the planned battery cell production, Tesla wants to invest around 250 million US dollars, equivalent to around 220 million euros, according to earlier statements, in order to create the prerequisites for annual production of 18 gigawatt-hours of battery cells. Originally, the company had announced that it would double annual capacity at the site to one million vehicles by expanding it.

Demand for Teslas in Germany has recently risen significantly. In May, according to figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, 5,111 Teslas were newly registered, an increase of 322 percent compared to the same month last year. Tesla's market share in Germany was 2.1 percent in May.

The personnel and production plans were first reported by the news agency dpa-AFX. The announcement was made in the course of a company meeting at which the management presented its hiring push for the Grünheide site.

With the announcement, Tesla is linking the expectation of strengthening the workforce at the site in the long term and adjusting production capacities to the growing demand for electric cars in Europe. According to the company, the additional 1,000 jobs are intended to help secure the higher production targets from October and to staff the planned battery cell production.

The expansion of the plant must also be seen against the background of the original goal of increasing annual capacity in Grünheide to one million vehicles in the long term. Until this goal is achieved, however, further investments and approvals are likely to be required that go beyond the measures currently announced.