A German TV show recently shared a short tour of Tesla Giga Berlin. The video below includes the captions with the option to translate them. The video shows a quick tour of the stamping area and a Tesla employee, Max, giving a tour. The translations I am providing come from the captions that were included in the video. (You can do this for any video with captions enabled — just click on the settings and then auto translate and choose your language.) However, I don’t think the captions always provided accurate translations.
The video opened up by noting that, so far, there hadn’t been any media behind the walls of Giga Berlin. The media could only speculate. “No journalist was allowed to enter the hall until this moment.”
The narrator pointed out that directly at the entrance are three single-family homes. (This is one reason I don’t think the caption translations were completely accurate. Help us out in the comments if you can do a better job at any point.) There was an explanation in the comments that helped better translate what Max was saying. “Regenerative Life” said:
“The guy explained how the stamping process works and how they do quality control. Also, he showed how the factory is structured. At the end, he mentioned he comes from that area and studied there. He was happy to find a job in the region and he believes in Tesla’s mission very strongly.”
According to the translated captions, Max said:
“In the stamping department is the press shop. This is where the pressed parts are made. Then, later, it was also the outer skin of the vehicle — more or less at the same time, we have this casting. So the foundry, then parts are cast that that are then both put together in the body shell construction. Then when that is done, it goes on to paint shop — bring them beautiful colors. And then in the end, it is time to design.”
The narrator next focused on the made-in-Berlin Model Y and mentioned the “first time in Europe.” I believe she was pointing out that this was the first Model Y made in Berlin that was ever filmed. However, I could be off. That Model Y could have also been a made-in-China vehicle and she could have simply meant that this was the first time a media crew filmed a Tesla inside of Giga Berlin.
She added that Max, as an engineer, supervises the quality standards of the car manufacturer. For now, though, he can only check on body parts from other factories. I take this translation to mean that, for now, he is only able to inspect the quality of Tesla vehicles from Giga Shanghai and/or other parts coming from Tesla’s supply chain but not built at Giga Berlin.
She even described some of the tools Max was working with as she filmed him working with metal, and Max explained that Tesla will manufacture the parts in the future through several processes. She gave a bit of Max’s story. He studied in Berlin and he always thought he would have to move to find a job in his field.
Max explained that when Elon Musk went on stage at the Golden Steering Wheel ceremony and announced that Tesla’s Gigafactory 4 would be in Berlin, a friend wrote him about this and told him that his region is where Tesla would be located. “That was just unbelievable. I think our mission is good. So that we can really make the change to sustainable energy.”
Some Thoughts
I don’t know German and some of the translations in the captions are off, but the overview is that it’s clear that Tesla is making an impact in Germany, where the heart of legacy auto beats.
Also, regarding the captions, it took me a moment to realize that “mask” was Musk (it was in the Golden Steering Wheel part that I figured it out) — watch out for that. Nonetheless, I think the captions were indeed helpful and Max definitely deserves to have his voice heard and understood globally. I agree with him that Tesla’s mission is good, and loved how he is passionate about making the change to sustainable energy. It’s also great that he didn’t have to leave home to find a career in his field and that it came to him.
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