By Victoria Waldersee
BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Tesla has paused
plans to produce entire batteries in Brandenburg, Germany, and
will instead carry out some production steps in the United
States where tax incentives are more favourable, the Brandenburg
economy ministry said on Tuesday.
The U.S. carmaker had originally planned to produce the full
battery at the Gruenheide site in Germany, with a peak capacity
of over 50 gigawatt hours per year.
But with the United States offering electric vehicle makers
sourcing batteries from within the United States tax breaks and
consumer discounts, the company has changed course.
"Tesla has started its battery system production in
Gruenheide and is preparing to manufacture battery cell
components. The company has prioritized further production steps
in the USA because tax incentives make business conditions more
favorable there," the Brandenburg economy ministry said in a
statement.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Chief Executive Elon Musk said in March 2022 that the
battery plant would reach volume production by the end of 2023,
but the plant and car production site have hit their targets
later than planned.
In 2020, Musk said the Berlin gigafactory would be the
biggest battery factory in the world.
Tesla has struggled to ramp up production of the 4680
battery cell at its factories in Fremont, California, and
Austin, Texas, which experts have attributed to new and unproven
techniques the company has been having trouble scaling up.
It announced in late January it would invest more than $3.6
billion to expand its Nevada gigafactory complex with two new
factories, one to mass produce its long-delayed Semi electric
truck and the other to make its new 4680 battery cell.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee
Editing by Mark Potter)
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