Qualla: Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: Introduction

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. In January 2017, Lithuania's gaming community got Tesla's attention by rebuilding the hypothetical European gigafactory in Minecraft. It was one of the stranger entries in a contest that ran for years and involved more than ten countries and several national governments. France offered a nuclear power station it was about to close. Portugal offered the largest lithium reserves in Europe. Estonia offered 140 megawatts of renewable power on the Pakri peninsula with total control over the price. What won was a pine plantation in Brandenburg, 35 km southeast of Berlin, that BMW had looked at around the year 2000 and turned down.

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: The Auction

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. The bidding ran for years before there was anything to bid on. Sigmar Gabriel, then Germany's economy minister, was in talks with Tesla as early as 2015. The Dutch pushed several sites, arguing for synergy with Tesla's European headquarters and finishing plant already in the Neth...

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: Seven Bombs and a Monoculture

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. The land was a designated industrial zone that had never been built on: three square kilometres of greenfield extending north from the GVZ Freienbrink logistics centre, bordered by the Berlin-Wrocław railway to the north and the A10 motorway to the west. Tesla paid €13.50 per squ...

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: Impossible-Seeming Speed

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. Musk promised the build would come together at 'impossible-seeming speed' using prefabricated construction, and by May 2020 the first foundations and four cranes were in and trainloads of pillars and beams were arriving. In October 2021 Tesla threw a county fair on the site for 9...

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: Treehouses in the Compensation Forest

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. Opposition arrived early and did not leave. Local citizens' initiatives and the Strausberg-Erkner water board raised concerns about water supply, wastewater and wildlife from the first public hearing. In 2021 the left-wing group Vulkangruppe claimed an arson attack on a transmitt...

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg: Half a Factory

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ralf Roletschek, FAL. Strip out the noise and the plant is a substantial industrial success and a substantial disappointment at once. It casts, stamps, paints and assembles; it builds batteries, packs, powertrains and seats; it cost around €4 billion and employs roughly 12,000 people. A free 400-seat ...

Image: Ralf Roletschek | FAL