BERLIN—When Rocco Pigola, a 59-year-old refinery worker from Bavaria who has owned six Tesla vehicles, heard about the electric-car maker’s new plant near Berlin, he jumped at the opportunity to order a Model Y Performance.

“I want to be the first person to drive a Tesla ‘Made in Germany,’” he said.

For now, though, he and other German fans...

BERLIN—When Rocco Pigola, a 59-year-old refinery worker from Bavaria who has owned six Tesla vehicles, heard about the electric-car maker’s new plant near Berlin, he jumped at the opportunity to order a Model Y Performance.

“I want to be the first person to drive a Tesla ‘Made in Germany,’” he said.

For now, though, he and other German fans have to wait. Tesla Inc. officials say the plant’s machines are installed and have been producing preproduction test vehicles since late last year, but without the permit to operate commercially, the plant can’t increase and sell its vehicles.

The factory’s opening, initially set for last summer, has been pushed back several times and there is still no official launch date.

The main reason for the postponements was a decision Tesla made, compounded by Germany’s planning procedures, according to analysts and local authorities. Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment on the delays.

The plant in Grünheide, a hamlet surrounded by lakes and forest, is key for Tesla’s growth and profitability, analysts said. According to Tesla’s planning application and statements from management over the past two years, Tesla will first build the Model Y at the plant, which will have capacity for around 500,000 vehicles a year.

Tesla reported global sales of 936,222 vehicles in 2021, an 87% increase from the year before. Analysts forecast the company could sell up to 1.5 million cars world-wide this year. The German plant will allow it to serve European auto markets without relying on expensive imports from its Chinese and U.S. factories.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk visited the plant in October.

Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa/Zuma Press

The latest forecast opening date to come and go was last fall. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on several occasions the plant would begin building a small number of cars by the end of 2021, and likely begin deliveries in early 2022, but that ramping up to full production would take time.

“It will take a longer time to reach high-volume production than it took to build the factory. It’s really difficult,” he said at the Grünheide plant in October.

In a way, Tesla has delivered: The plant is ready to produce cars. The regional economics ministry confirmed in January that Tesla had purchased a section of railroad track to run a shuttle between nearby Erkner and the plant to ease workers’ commute. Germany’s powerful industrial labor union, IG Metall, said it has opened an office outside the plant to organize the workforce. Customers are putting in orders for cars to be built there.

What is missing to kick off commercial production is the final planning approval.

Environmental opposition to the plant explains some of the delays, but the biggest delay, regional officials and analysts said, was caused by Tesla’s late application to build a battery plant that wasn’t included in the original permit application.

“That cost them an additional six months,” said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management, a research institute in Germany. Even so, he said, “the plant is going up in record time.”

Visitors to the plant at an open day in October.

Photo: Patrick Pleul/Zuma Press

The Brandenburg state government said it used fast-track laws created in the wake of German reunification to accelerate the approval process. The state has issued preliminary approval for the plant in stages, allowing Tesla to construct the plant and build a few vehicles to test systems, but preventing commercial production until final approval.

Under German law, Tesla had to submit an environmental impact study that was open to public comment. During this process, citizens and environmental groups raised concerns about the plant’s impact on the local environment. The state collected more than 800 individual complaints during public hearings in 2020 and 2021.

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State officials have said they need to study each objection and make any required changes to the plant to ensure that the final permit can withstand any legal challenges after the plant has officially opened.

A spokeswoman for the Brandenburg environment ministry said that the approval process was in the final phase, but that she couldn’t name a date for approval.

If approved, the plant could still face roadblocks. A concern expressed by local citizens and by environmental groups is that the plant and service providers who may subsequently locate in the area could use too much water, threatening residents’ supply. Most of these lawsuits were dismissed by the courts.

From the Archives

Tesla CEO Elon Musk turned his first European Gigafactory near Berlin into a fairground where visitors could tour the facility. Photo: Patrick Pleul/Associated Press (Originally published Oct. 11, 2021) The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

Environmental activists have sued to block a utility provider from increasing the water it draws from the ground to serve the Tesla plant via a second utility. If the court sides with the plaintiffs, the water company says it would have a shortfall so large that the entire community would be affected.

“In a nutshell: No water—no Tesla,” the Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner company said.

Analysts say it is unlikely that approval will be withheld for the factory dubbed Giga Berlin. Such a decision, which could require Tesla to pack up the plant and return the land to its original state, would likely scare investors away from Germany for years, they said.

Back in Bavaria, Mr. Pigola said he placed his order for a Model Y Performance car in September and was given a preliminary delivery date in January. He says he got a call in November telling him that the vehicle probably won’t be ready until March, and that his choice of a white model would take even longer.

“I changed to black,” he said. “I still don’t have a firm delivery date.”

—Rebecca Elliott contributed to this article.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com