Tesla had to pause deliveries of some Model Y vehicles built at Gigafactory Berlin, and the buyers are being told that there’s a problem with the electric motor.
The production ramps at Gigafactory Berlin and Gigafactory Texas are undoubtedly Tesla’s most important projects at the moment. Until the automaker can ramp up to volume production at those facilities, it is going to lose billions of dollars operating those large plants.
Tesla is believed to have a tough time at Gigafactory Texas where the bottleneck is the production of 4680 cells and structural battery packs. The automaker is doing better at Gigafactory Berlin where Model Y vehicles are still being built with 2170 battery cells.
Earlier this month, Tesla confirmed that it produced 1,000 Model Y vehicles in a week at Gigafactory Berlin for the first time. It was an important milestone for the company. However, the automaker is now experiencing a setback as many Model Y buyers are reporting that Tesla delayed their deliveries.
Based on buyer reports to Electrek and European Tesla message boards, the problem appears to only affect the Performance version of the Model Y, and several buyers are reporting being told by Tesla that the problem is with the drive units (electric motors).
Tesla is believed to be getting its drive units from Gigafactory Shanghai for Model Y production at Gigafactory Berlin. The goal is to eventually move production to Germany, but the company relies on supply from China for the meantime.
Based on Tesla’s communications to buyers, the automaker has paused deliveries due to an unspecified defect with the motors. Buyers who had upcoming delivery dates are reporting being pushed, and those with delivery windows are seeing them also extended to later this year.
It’s unclear at this point how this issue will affect Tesla’s overall production capacity at the factory.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
