Elon Musk's huge Tesla factory in Germany is facing huge construction delays due to government red tape, environmental activists and unexploded WW2 bombs, meaning its first cars might not be produced until next year.

The $4.9billion Gruenheide gigafactory site 24 miles east of Berlin was scheduled to open on July 1 this year before it was delayed until late 2021 last month.

Now the date could be pushed back to next year due to a series of unforeseen roadblocks.

Musk visited the plant on Monday after a short stop off in London on his £50million private jet, and tweeted on Tuesday: 'Giga Berlin suppliers please accelerate!' 

Brandenburg's economy minister Joerg Steinbach said no meetings with him or state premier Dietmar Woidke were planned during Musk's visit which was mainly 'technical in character'. 

The billionaire CEO announced the new car plant in November 2019 just as his Shanghai gigafactory was due to start making Model 3s only 11 months after its construction started.

He considered opening a European base in the UK but decided the Brexit situation was too unstable, so he decided to set up camp in Germany.  

But his optimism has so far been unrewarded as he is still waiting for environmental approval from the state of Brandenburg, despite tweeting in July last year: 'Giga Berlin will come together at an impossible-seeming speed.'

Tesla has been forced to remove bomb shells from the construction site, silence activists opposed to the chopping down of trees, its water use and the removal of bat and animal habitats, and fight potential labour law violations.