- Tesla’s Gruenheide plant is Europe’s first giga factory
- Objections to the approval may be submitted next month
- Tesla wants to show that it meets the conditions for the next two weeks
POTSDAM, Germany, March 4 – Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) received a conditional green light for its German gigafactory near Berlin on Friday, the state of Brandenburg said, ending months of delays of 5 billion euros ($ 5.5 billion). remarkable plant.
The gigafactory, which is crucial to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ambitions to beat European market leader Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), was originally scheduled to open last summer.
Germany’s largest carmaker dominates Europe with a 25% share of electric vehicle (EV) sales compared to Tesla’s 13%.
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Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Voidke told a briefing that the development was a “big step into the future”, adding that Tesla’s plant would be a major industrial and technological engine for Germany and the region.
About 2,600 of the plant’s expected 12,000 workers have been hired so far, unions said last month, and Tesla is in talks with a number of parts suppliers in the region to procure as much locally as possible, reducing waiting times and costs.
Emphasizing the intense competition facing Tesla, Volkswagen said on Friday it would spend about 2 billion euros on a new factory near its headquarters in Wolfsburg to make Trinity, the first of a new generation of electric vehicles for the German carmaker. as construction should begin next year.
Tesla’s 536-page conditional building permit on Friday does not mean the US-based pioneer of electric vehicles can begin production immediately. He must first prove that he meets a number of conditions, including water use and air pollution control.
Only then will Tesla receive its long-awaited operating permit and actually start launching the 500,000 battery-powered cars it wants to produce each year at the new plant in the small Grunheide community.
Another obstacle to securing the site’s water supply came late Friday when an administrative court in Frankfurt Oder sided with environmental groups who challenged a license given to a local water company to supply the site’s Tesla. Read more
But the court said procedural errors in the licensing decision could be rectified by water and sewerage, leaving the door open to save water.
Launching production in Germany would mean that Tesla could deliver its Model Y cars to European customers faster and cheaper after fulfilling orders in Europe from its Shanghai plant in recent months while awaiting approval for the site.
Tesla plans to show that it meets the conditions within the next two weeks, Brandenburg Environment Minister Axel Vogel said, while objections could be filed next month.
The next challenge for Tesla will be to increase production as quickly as possible, which Musk told an on-site fair in October that it would take longer than building the plant.
Local ecological groups have long feared that the plant will adversely affect the local habitat. Numerous public consultations focused mainly on this aspect slowed down the process, with Musk repeatedly expressing irritation at the German bureaucracy.
The plant, which Tesla has begun building with pre-approval permits, will also include a battery plant capable of generating more than 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year – ahead of European competitors.
On-site car batteries will initially come from China, Musk said, but intends to reach large-scale production at Germany’s battery plant by the end of next year.
(1 dollar = 0.9163 euros)
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Report by Nadine Shimroschik, Christoph Steitz, Jan Schwartz, Victoria Waldersee and Ludwig Burger; edited by Kirsty Knowle, Miranda Murray, Louise Havens and Alexander Smith
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