It has been a big week for Tesla in Germany. After a long wait Giga Berlin was awarded environmental approval on Friday.
Now Drive Tesla has learned the factory has reached another significant milestone and produced its first Model Y Long Range test vehicles this week.
Until now, Giga Berlin has only produced the Model Y Performance variant, having received approval to build up to 2,000 test cars ahead of the official start of production.
As of last month crews at the factory have already produced over 1,000 Performance SUVs. Now they can add four Long Range SUVs to their list of accomplishments.
Images shared with Drive Tesla show the four vehicles have VINs ending in 1650, 1665, 1666, and 1694.
As we reported earlier this week all of the vehicles were built without radar, unlike the current Performance builds at Giga Berlin which have it included.
Additionally, since these are Long Range variants they were produced with no spoiler, and both 19″ Gemini and 20″ Induction wheels.
The test production run was meant to identify if any changes to the production lines are needed to accommodate both the Long Range and Performance variants. According to our source, the test went very smoothly and there were no major hiccups along the way.
After months of delays, Tesla can see the light at the end of the tunnel and official production could begin very soon. On Friday the State of Brandenburg announced that the factory has officially received its final environmental approval.
However, Tesla still has to meet over 400 other “conditions and requirements” related to things like groundwater protection, species protection measures, and more before cars can start rolling off the production line.
Tesla developing stacked Superchargers to charge cars on transport carriers
We’re growing and looking for more writers to join our team. If you have a strong interest in Tesla and EVs, send an email to apply AT driveteslacanada.ca.