The US electric car manufacturer Tesla has fully ramped up production at its factory in Grünheide near Berlin after a forced break due to the situation in the Red Sea. Tesla announced to the German Press Agency on Monday that production had begun in full with the night shift. All bands have been running again since Sunday at 10 p.m. Tesla had pointed out that all necessary production parts were again available in sufficient quantities.
Elon Musk’s company suspended production on January 29th until February 11th due to attacks by the Yemeni Houthi militia on ships in the Red Sea. Because the transport routes were longer, components were missing. However, Tesla said it continued producing where possible and bridged the time with repairs and training.
According to the company, around 12,500 people currently work in the factory in Grünheide. The factory opened in March 2022. The company wants to expand production in Grünheide and double it from the targeted 500,000 cars per year to one million per year – that’s the equivalent of 10,000 per week. According to its own information, the company is currently building around 6,000 vehicles per week.
At the same time, plans are underway to expand the site, including a freight station. A citizen survey in the municipality of Grünheide is running until Friday. The development plan for the expansion has not yet been decided.
The partial production stop led to a dispute over the date of the works council election, which is planned for March. IG Metall is trying to initially stop the election. The union sees time pressure for the preparation of election proposals and had submitted an application for an interim injunction to the Frankfurt (Oder) labor court. The electoral board for the works council election rejected the allegations in a letter to the workforce.
