March 23, 2022: -Elon Musk will officially open Tesla’s first manufacturing factory in Europe on Tuesday as the company looks to take pressure off its other factories in the U.S. and China.

The Tesla CEO will cut a red ribbon at the new Giga Berlin (or Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg) plant in Grünheide, a coal town in Brandenburg, Germany, within commuting distance of the capital.

Tesla sees the Berlin factory producing up to 500,000 vehicles annually.

Tesla has been struggling to keep up with demand, and there are reportedly lengthy delays for Model Ys and certain Model 3s in different parts of the world.

Last week, Tesla temporarily shut production at its Shanghai plant due to Covid-19 cases resurgent in China. That limited production of made-in-China Model 3 and Model Y vehicles there for at least two days.

In recent quarters, Tesla has been exporting cars from China to customers in Europe.

Demand for EVs remains very high in Europe, and now Tesla can rely on some production on the continent, not solely to be shipped from China.

Giga Berlin has been several years in the making. It is essential to Tesla’s plans to expand globally following its Gigafactory 3 plant in Shanghai in late 2019. The company has also opened another plant in Austin, Texas, recently.

In November 2019, when Musk announced plans to build a car plant in Germany, he lauded German engineering.

He said: “Everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding. That’s part of why we are locating our Gigafactory Europe in Germany. We will also create an engineering and design center in Berlin because Berlin has some of the best art in the world.”

German authorities gave Tesla conditional approval to start production on March 4.

The conditional license for Brandenburg’s vehicle and battery plants was expected following months of delays. Tesla had intended to start production of cars by early summer of 2021, but the Covid pandemic, supply chain complications, and clashes with environmentalists slowed its progress.