E-car pioneer Elon Musk has set up a huge factory in front of Berlin's gates in just under two years.
On Saturday he let interested citizens in for the first time.
Because not all neighbors are enthusiastic.
Grünheide - Tesla boss Elon Musk wants to produce the first electric cars for Europe in Germany by December at the latest.
The company boss announced this on Saturday at an open day at his first European plant in Grünheide near Berlin.
After that, it will take until the end of next year for production to ramp up.
By then, a battery factory that is still under construction should be in operation next to the car factory, said Musk.
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Musk is coming to Germany for the open day
Tesla boss Elon Musk will be there himself at the first open day of his electric car factory in Grünheide near Berlin.
On Friday he wrote a corresponding question on Twitter: “Yes.” Tesla is inviting citizens from Brandenburg and Berlin to the “County Fair” on October 9, the construction site of the first Tesla “Gigafactory” in Europe to explore.
Musk is coming to Germany for the open day
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Musk announced the so-called Giga Factory at the end of 2019 and built it in less than two years.
In the future, around 12,000 employees will build up to 500,000 electric cars a year there.
According to the company, as many parts as possible should be produced on site in order to become independent of suppliers.
So far, Musk has only had early approvals to build the factory.
The last environmental approval for the entire project is still pending, and several hundred objections are still being discussed.
Critics complain that the industrial building is partly being built in a water protection area.
Both opponents and supporters of the project, however, expect the approval to be granted in the next few weeks.
Musk defended his project against concerns that the production was diverting too much water from the region.
“Our factory uses very little water,” he said.
Tesla's mission is the fastest possible transition to renewable energies and climate protection.
At the same time, he recruited qualified employees from all over Europe.
"I'm a little worried that we won't be able to hire enough people," said Musk.
The authorities had allowed up to 9,000 people at the same time for the open house called “County Fair”.
In front of the car factory hundreds of people cavorted on a kind of fairground with a Ferris wheel and sausage stalls when the weather was perfect.
Visitors with pre-ordered tickets were able to visit the plant and also test drive them in the Tesla Model Y, which is to be produced in Grünheide.
In the factory, robots are already running in test operation on production lines.
Above all, Tesla emphasizes the importance of its own die-casting facility and state-of-the-art paint shop.
Police reported slow traffic on access roads, but no major problems.
Tesla had asked visitors to come by train.
The car factory at the gates of Berlin is one of the most important industrial projects in East Germany.
Musk originally estimated the construction costs at 1.1 billion euros, but said in the meantime that the budget would be exceeded.
For the battery factory, Tesla has the prospect of public funding, which, according to media reports, could also amount to 1.1 billion euros.
According to the company, a "mid-single-digit billion sum" is to be invested.
Speculations about four to five billion euros are not wrong, it said on Saturday.
There was no more detailed information.
Up to 3500 people are said to have been employed on the construction site at the peak.
In addition, employees are already being hired for production, it said.
dpa
