Tesla in Grünheide: Production suffers from inadequate drive system

What’s going on with Tesla in Grünheide? After the Gigafactory was inaugurated with bangs and trumpets, there was a hail of negative headlines. We just reported that the plant is apparently threatening to go into the red rather than into the black. Tesla itself even called it a “gigantic money-burning furnace”. Now the production that goes on there also seems to be defective. As a result, there are expensive delays in the production of more electric cars.

Tesla postpones delivery dates

You don’t have to be an insider to realize that not everything is going great at Tesla’s Gigafactory. Quite the contrary. So currently many customers who actually expected a delivery of their new e-car in June now have to wait partly until October until they can finally sit down in their long-awaited Tesla. However, those who have received an appointment from the US carmaker can still consider themselves lucky. Some are said to have been left out in the cold and must now live with a postponement for an indefinite period.

According to Tesla, the electric car’s drive system is to blame. The entire unit is said to be defective. Unfortunately, this error has apparently only now been noticed at the factory itself. Accordingly, many vehicles of the models with defects have already been delivered. The biggest problem with this is that the defects in the drive are so complicated that they cannot be conveniently fixed via over-the-update. That means expensive visits to the workshop, which could further underscore Grünheide’s reputation as a money-burning furnace.

Problems already known from China

Meanwhile, Tesla experts at Teslamag have pointed to very similar problems with Chinese Teslas in a report. In the Far East, the drive problem is most likely related to the inverter. This is of great importance in Tesla’s vehicles, as it converts direct current into alternating current and thus ensures smooth interaction between the electric drive and the battery. The problem in China involved a total of 130,000 vehicles. It is still unknown how high the number of defective Teslas is that came off the assembly line in Grünheide. We hope Grünheide can pick itself up after this low blow and not give Elon Musk a reason to play harderball. After all, it only became known a few days ago that the Gigafactory in Nevada had to deal with mass layoffs.