The US electric vehicle giant Tesla has been given a provisional go-ahead by German authorities to expand its “Gigafactory” outside Berlin, despite objections from local residents about the potential environmental impact.
The factory, close to the small town of Grünheide in Brandenburg state, stands some five miles from Berlin and is Tesla’s sole manufacturing site in Europe. The company hopes expansion will allow it to double production from an annual 500,000 vehicles to one million.
Tesla’s original plans called for the clearance of over 100 hectares of woodland to accommodate the projected expansion. However, following a local referendum on the proposal, the Elon Musk concern opted to reduce the size of the project and abandoned plans for a new freight depot.
After discussions, Brandenburg’ state’s environment ministry said that Tesla could begin construction “at its own risk”. Building permission per se has yet to be granted officially.
However plans to lay new underground pipes, install new stairwells and roof-top solar panels have been approved.
The Tesla Grünheide factory began operations in March 2022 and employs 12,000 people. In April of this year, 400 workers were laid off. The previous month, unidentified saboteurs were responsible for a serious power cut at the plant. This was widely condemned by senior German politicians alarmed that Elon Musk might consider relocating the factory.
When climate activists tried to storm the site in May there were clashes with police.
