Tesla has told Brandenburg's public broadcaster that it intends to apply for a partial permit to build a second production hall at Grünheide, the next step in the one-million-car expansion it applied for in 2023. RBB reported on 14 October 2026 that the applications are due in December, that construction could begin in 2027, and that the full expansion is laid out over roughly ten years. The hall would be about 536,000 m², more than twice the roughly 219,000 m² of the building that makes the Model Y today.
What Tesla confirmed, and what RBB added
Asked by RBB and the Märkische Oderzeitung, Tesla said its 2023 partial-permit application had already outlined a staged expansion of Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and its environmental effects, that the permit notice of 15 October 2024 "established that it is permissible in principle", and that "the planned partial-permit application for the northern production building builds on that. Once the permit is granted, it allows this building to be built."
Tesla gave no filing date and no headcount. The December timing, the 2027 start and the ten-year horizon are RBB's information, as is the note that earlier planning documents spoke of up to 42,000 people working on the site in the long run.
| Step | Date | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Change-permit application to the Landesamt für Umwelt | 15 March 2023 | 500,000 to 1 million cars a year; cell capacity 50 to 100 GWh |
| First partial permit | 15 October 2024 | Production buildings without new lines (Batteriepack 2, Antrieb 2); Tesla-owned land only, no further clearing |
| Planning brochure | June 2026 | Northern building, rail link to the Freienbrink freight centre, Fangschleuse pavilion, state road L 386 |
| Partial-permit application for the northern hall | December 2026, per RBB | Construction of the 536,000 m² building |
| Possible construction start | 2027 | Installing equipment needs a further permit, according to teslamag |
The water question comes with its own answer
Water has been the contested issue at Grünheide since before the plant opened, and RBB reports that the package addresses it: an additional water loop with a new on-site wastewater treatment plant, which is eventually to treat sanitary wastewater as well. The hall and the extra staff would use more water in total, but Tesla's position is that no additional sanitary wastewater would leave the site. Tesla briefed Grünheide's mayor and the municipal utilities at the plant; its own substation and an enlarged water treatment plant belong to the same package.
A second hall for a plant that is not full
Grünheide is permitted for 500,000 cars a year, and Tesla's own quarterly reports list its installed capacity at more than 375,000. It built about 202,000 cars in 2025, and in early September it was running under 6,500 a week against a 7,500 target for mid-October. As teslamag notes, a new hall is not the fast way to more Model Ys; a second line in the existing one is.
That is why observers quoted by the Märkische Oderzeitung read the northern building as space for another vehicle, with the Cybercab and the Semi named as candidates. In a video shown to staff on 25 February 2026, reported by electrive, Elon Musk said the plant's next big product would "most likely" be the Cybercab, with Optimus and the Semi as possibilities, and tied any expansion to the authorities and "the people" being supportive. In the same recording he said Tesla would not close Grünheide but "realistically" would not expand it either if outside organisations made things harder, a remark electrive read as aimed at IG Metall. The December filing is the first time since then that the expansion has come with a date; TeslAnt covered the June brochure that first showed the northern building.
What it changes for a European buyer
Nothing before 2028 at the earliest. The delivery date on a European Model Y order depends on the 7,500-a-week ramp in the existing hall, which already quotes 2027 for new orders. The new hall is about what else Grünheide will build, and a December application will say more about that than any statement so far.