Tesla's German Gigafactory still on track for December opening
Ever since Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the building of the
carmaker's fourth Gigafactory near Berlin toward the end of 2019, his plans
have been viewed by many as a declaration of war against Germany's top three
auto manufacturing groups — Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler with its Mercedes
brand.
Apart from planting top-notch electric vehicle know-how in
the heart of Europe's carmaking industry, Tesla has also aspired to show the
local competition that a huge plant could be built in record time.
Tesla says it's only Germany's red tape that has kept Giga
Berlin from opening. The company had to delay the start of its Model Y
production there one more time after the State Office for the Environment in
Brandenburg decided to repeat the procedure for an online discussion on
objections by locals to and complaints about the huge plant in their
neighborhood.
The debate had originally become necessary after Tesla
confirmed that besides building its car-producing unit, it would also build a
huge battery cell production plant on the same premises in Grünheide near
Berlin. The final round of discussion ended on Monday, November 22.
Tesla has almost completed its Gigafactory on the basis of a
string of preliminary permits, but it still lacks a final operating permit from
the regional environmental authorities.
So far, the Brandenburg authorities have not released any
details on just how long they would take to evaluate the objections raised by
local residents and come up with their final approval (or rejection which is
largely considered to be highly unlikely). Experts believe, though, that the
plant could start operating as soon as December or early January at the latest.
Since the start of the project, Tesla has been faced with a
number of environmental concerns, including the logging of forest areas and
more importantly, the tricky question of where to get enough water from in a
region that has been plagued by years of dry summers, seeing ground water
levels recede considerably.
At a recent "County Fair" that Tesla organized for
9,000 local residents, the carmaker allowed a sneak peek of its production
facility. It was also meant to win over skeptics of the project. While visitors
reported they were deeply impressed by the top-notch technology on display
inside Giga Berlin, environmental concerns just wouldn't fade away.
In what is Tesla's first Gigafactory in Europe, the US firm
wants to eventually produce half a million fully electric cars per year, thus
topping the combined output of EVs from all German manufacturers. The company
has said it will employ up to 12,000 people, but only few are expected to be
hired from places near the plant.
The Teslarati online portal providing information and rumors
about the latest developments at the iconic US carmaker has recently suggested
that trial production activities are already in full swing at the factory in
Grünheide.
It said on its website that "during a recent flyover of
the massive Grünheide site, several Tesla Model Y units that seemed to have
been produced in the facility were spotted rolling out of Gigafactory Berlin —
the all-electric crossovers then proceeded to head over to the site's test
track."
The portal admitted, though that "while the Model Y
units seemed to have been produced in the Gigafactory Berlin complex, there is
also a chance that the vehicles were just used to calibrate the production
equipment that has long been set up in the facility."
Be that as it may, Giga Berlin seems only days or weeks away
from its official inauguration. The company hasn't provided any insights yet
into how many of the cars to be produced there will actually be meant for the
German market itself.
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