On 22 March 2022, the moment had finally arrived: just 861 days after the decision to locate the plant in Brandenburg, the first ‘Made in Brandenburg’ Teslas were hitting Germany’s roads. The start of production at the Gigafactory in Grünheide marks a milestone in Brandenburg’s economic development and in the German automotive industry. In future, 500,000 Model Ys are set to roll off the production line here every year.
Germany is embracing electric mobility, and the capital region is becoming the new hub of this modern form of transport.
From the road to the skies: APUS-Aeronautical Engineering, based in Strausberg, is, for example, working on nothing less than the future of aviation – with new, environmentally friendly propulsion technologies.
Modern mobility is also being tested in the region in the form of a test site for autonomous inland waterway transport on the Spree-Oder waterway. The aim is to supply and collect waste from metropolitan regions using autonomous inland vessels, which are also intended to be electrically powered. Sensors provide information on the vessel’s position; these can both send signals from the vessel to a traffic control centre and receive data from land, enabling the vessel to dock and undock automatically.
On land, on water and in the air, from the Tesla Gigafactory to autonomous inland waterway shipping – modern mobility is as diverse as it is fascinating. It is shaping the path to the future – and is already a reality in the forward-looking region of East Brandenburg.