Tesla Giga Fest Will Not Present a Finished Giga Factory, Says Engineer

They are not ready for production yet and won’t be until at least April 2022. Chinese suppliers already said they will only be available by 2023. When Tesla said it would make a Giga Fest at Giga Grünheide, some expected to see a car produced there. According to Jaberwock Research, they won’t: the factory is not ready yet.

The retired engineer wrote about signs that there’s still a lot to do in Tesla’s German plant on August 13 for Seeking Alpha. On September 25, he made a Twitter thread summing up all the elements that show the party on October 9 will be a PR effort to please the local population and press German authorities to grant Tesla the permits that will allow the factory to start operating. With no 4680 cells, there’s no reason for the rush.

Tesla conceived the German Model Y to be built around three mega castings: one for the front structure, one for the rear, and a structural battery pack in the middle. The Cybertruck and the Roadster have a similar design.

According to Jaberwock Research, work is still in early phases for the hazardous material warehouse, fire suppression system, and fire station. Only the tanks for the wastewater treatment station are ready.

The Central Utilities Building is still only in the plans, and it takes care of the compressed air (for the assembly tool) and of the factory heating. The engineer said that they have to be ready before Tesla received a final permit. The company does not even have a permanent building permit; it is carrying out work with temporary licenses.

The visitors that will attend the Giga Fest in about a week from now may see a complete paint shop. However, it may only work with temporary systems, such as diesel generators. Of the six Giga Presses Tesla bought from the Idra Group, only two are installed. They work thanks to an LNG tank temporarily mounted at the plant.

Electrical cables are simply lying on the ground, with no protection. When work is ready, they should be inside duct banks underground or pipe banks above the soil. The drainage system is not yet prepared either, HVAC equipment is not installed, paving is not complete.

According to Jaberwock Research, Tesla still has at least six months of hard work ahead to get everything going. That means it could be ready to start producing cars only by April 2022, the same deadline Elon Musk gave for the 4680 cell start of production in the best-case scenario.

Will that be enough for people to stop hoping for any surprises at the German plant, such as a car moving out of assembly lines that are not ready yet? We seriously doubt it. For all the others just willing to understand the purpose of that party and what is happening at Giga Grünheide, the Jaberwock Research update is very welcome.

On October 9th, Tesla is opening the gates of its Brandenburg factory and inviting the public to see “the most advanced EV manufacturing plant in the world”. Some Tesla followers might conclude that the factory is complete and ready for production. /2$TSLA #TESLA pic.twitter.com/1rp8RJBpUb

— jaberwock (@jaberwock2) September 25, 2021

What will the public see on Oct 9th?
Maybe we'll see another mock-up like the M3 line, maybe the press will get a fake photo like they did when the tent line was under construction?
It won't be a finished factory, this site is at least 6 months away from meaningful production.

— jaberwock (@jaberwock2) September 25, 2021