Is Tesla planning to produce the Tesla Semi electric truck in Europe? After an arson attack on the Tesla factory's power supply in early March 2024, which led to a one-week forced break, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded with a visit to Germany. He encouraged the workforce at the German Gigafactory to stick with the Grünheide site and to have further expansion plans for the site. According to reports from Handelsblatt, which has a video of a statement made by Elon Musk in a Q&A session with Gigafactory employees, he discussed the possibility of producing the Tesla Semi at Gigafactory Grünheide.
So far, Tesla has only produced and delivered a limited number of the Tesla Semi. The majority of these vehicles are believed to be in the PepsiCo fleet in California. Production of the first examples of the Semi will begin in the USA in October 2022. The first units will then be ceremoniously handed over to the first customers, including the main customer PepsiCo, at the Semi Delivery Event on December 1, 2022. So far, however, only in small quantities. Although Musk emphasized that it is important to start series production in the USA first, expansion to Europe already appears to be in the pipeline. Currently, the Gigafactory Grünheide near Berlin only produces the popular Tesla Model Y is produced at the Grünheide Gigafactory near Berlin.
However, the challenges for Tesla are manifold. Although an expansion of the Gigafactory Nevada for the production of the Tesla Semi was announced back in January 2023, the project was delayed. Tesla only started construction in January 2024, but it is unclear when production of the electric Semi truck will begin. Tesla will probably not invest in production at another plant until the vehicle is produced in large quantities at the Gigafactory in Nevada.
