Tesla recently finished their new production facility in Berlin, Germany, and Elon Musk visited to celebrate the occasion. In front of a large cheering crowd, the CEO detailed his expectations for the Tesla factory’s output in the coming months. Things will kick off in the Tesla Berlin factory sooner than some may have expected.

Tesla Berlin factory will start producing cars in a few months

According to a Reuters report, Elon Musk told the crowd of fans and employees at the Tesla Berlin factory that the first cars could start rolling off the production line as soon as November 2021.

Musk needs to get the green light from Germany’s government to begin production at the Tesla Berlin factory to make that prediction accurate. Currently, the facility is going through consultation on public concerns. That consultation is set to end on October 14th, 2021. At that time, the Environment Ministry will decide if production can proceed at the Tesla Berlin factory.

There has been criticism of the factory’s impact on the local environment, which is why Germany’s Environment Ministry is listening to local citizens on the matter. According to the report, some of those residents think that the Tesla Berlin factory goes against conventional “German business culture,” according to the report.

“I would tell him to stop building electrocars but rather fly to Mars,” said Manu Hoyer, the leader of a small protest group against the Tesla Berlin factory. The group believes the factory will pollute the local drinking water supply.

Though, Musk has defended the Tesla Berlin factory on the matter. He pushed that the factory would use “relatively little” water and that battery production will be “sustainable.”

Musk says starting production is the easy part

Despite the belief that the Tesla Berlin factory will begin production as early as November 2021, Musk cautioned that starting production is the easy part. The challenge for the factory will be reaching mass production goals.

“Starting production is nice, but volume production is the hard part,” said Musk. “It will take longer to reach volume production than it took to build the factory.” Despite those concerns, Musk and Tesla have maintained relatively high production numbers despite the global chip shortage. However, Musk predicts that the shortage will end by next year.

Regarding the Tesla Berlin factory, Musk said that the facility will produce “hopefully 10,000” cars per week and that the factory will reach volume battery production by the end of 2022.

Musk is also concerned with staffing employing enough people to sufficiently staff the factory to reach volume production sooner rather than later. To achieve that, Musk asked that people from “all over Europe” apply for positions at the Tesla Berlin factory.

Tesla also just completed a factory in Texas

Berlin, Germany, is not the only place expected to be home to a new Tesla factory. The EV maker is also nearing completion on a new battery production facility in Austin, Texas. Elon Musk recently visited that facility during a similar celebration to the one in Berlin.

During that Texas event, Musk dropped the bombshell that Tesla would be moving its HQ from Palo Alto, California, to Austin in the near future. Musk cited rising commercial and residential real estate costs as one of the reasons for moving Tesla’s HQ.

However, Texas’ lower taxes and lenient regulations may have played a role in the decision, but Musk has yet to confirm on deny that.

Between Tesla’s new factories, the automaker should have no problem continuing their record-breaking production.