Elon Musk to inaugurate Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin today and hand over the first Model Y keys to early buyers

Elon Musk is in Germany today for the Gigafactory Berlin opening ceremony and will be cutting the ribbon as well as handing over the keys of the first 30 Model Ys built there to the plant's early customers. After a lengthy environmental review, the German authorities for the Berlin-Brandenburg region finally gave the green light for the factory to open as "Tesla’s first manufacturing location in Europe and our most advanced, sustainable and efficient facility yet," according to the carmaker.

Tesla's Berlin plant is one of its smaller Gigafactories yet it is slated to produce hundreds of thousands of Model Y vehicles, as well as many millions of battery cells. The German Gigafactory will be gradually increasing its production capacity to about 30,000 Tesla Model Y units in the first half of 2022 alone. Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has complained a few times about the red tape surrounding his first Gigafactory project in Europe and declined €1.14 billion ($1.35 billion) in EU subsidies meant for in-house battery production, worried that this will add even more red tape to the project.

The Berlin factory was initially conceived with Model Y production in mind, but later the project expanded to include the innovative Tesla 4680 battery cells. About 4,000 people have been handed invitations to the opening ceremony, while each Model Y owner will be able to drive off the ramp to the sound of music of their own choosing. Besides Elon and his son who is reportedly getting a factory tour as well, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also be there, as well as various Brandenburg region officials.

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