Tesla said to be facing 6-month delay in opening Gigafactory Berlin, based on German report

Tesla’s issues in Germany have now reportedly resulted in a six-month delay of the start of production at Gigafactory Berlin, according to a local industry paper.

Gigafactory Berlin is one of Tesla’s most important projects right now since it will bring the Model Y to Europe, and it will introduce a new generation of the electric vehicle using Tesla’s new structural battery pack technology with its new 4680 battery cell.

It’s expected to become a big part of Tesla’s growth story for next few years and help accelerate electric vehicle adoption in Europe.

Originally, the start of production has been expected in July 2021, but the project has run into some issues.

The automaker has been having issues obtaining important building permits and environmental approvals for the project.

It ran into some problems with the water supply company, environmentalists who didn’t want to move some local animals as part of Tesla’s deforestation of the site, and Tesla even fired “Mister Gigafactory,” the engineer in charge of Gigafactory Berlin project.

Despite those problems, CEO Elon Musk said last week during Tesla’s quarterly financial call that he expected production to start this year:

“We’re building factories as quickly as we can. Both Texas and Berlin are progressing well, and we expect to have initial limited production from those factories this year and volume production from Texas and Berlin next year.”

But now a new report coming of Germany’s Automobilwoche, am auto industry paper, states that Tesla’s timeline for Gigafactory Berlin has slipped to January 2022:

“The start of series production in Tesla’s new Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin has been delayed by six months until the end of January 2022. Tesla boss Elon Musk officially gave the team half a year more, reports the Automobilwoche, citing company circles.”

According to the report, the regulatory approval for the project is part of the delayed timeline as Tesla reportedly notified authorities that it will modify its application.

The publication also stated that construction delays are also at play, including for the battery cell production facility that Tesla is building at the site.

During the same previously mentioned call held by Tesla last week, Musk also said that he expects Tesla to start volume battery cell production at Gigafactory Berlin next year.