The opening of the Tesla factory brings a lot of celebrities to Grünheide near Berlin. CEO Musk wants to hand over the first cars. Meanwhile, environmental groups do not want to accept the approval of the plant.
The Tesla mission starts on Tuesday on the outskirts of Berlin: the factory of the US electric car manufacturer in Grünheide is opened with many celebrities.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke and Tesla boss Elon Musk have announced that they will celebrate. Musk, who landed in Berlin on Monday, wants to personally hand over the first Model Y vehicles to owners. Musk said on Twitter on Monday evening: “We are pleased to hand over the first production vehicles from Giga Berlin-Brandenburg!”
With the factory, after two years of construction and many preliminary approvals until the final approval at the beginning of March, a new automotive location was created in eastern Germany. The project is considered a model – also in terms of construction and approval times. The Federation of German Industries, for example, sees the process as a model for the factory, but is pushing for simpler processes overall.
500,000 cars a year
For the director of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Technical University of Berlin, Sahin Albayrak, the opening of the plant is a “milestone for the digital transformation of the automotive industry in Germany.” Tesla’s so-called Gigafactory will attract world-class young researchers who will contribute their know-how to universities and research projects. “In this way we can strengthen research on intelligent networked transport systems in Germany.”
Tesla plans in a first stage with up to 500,000 cars a year and around 12,000 employees. A battery factory is under construction. Before the opening, the company still has to meet numerous requirements. However, the state of Brandenburg no longer sees any obstacles. IG Metall welcomed the launch of the Tesla factory. However, when it comes to working conditions, Tesla is lagging behind in comparison with other German states, explained district manager Birgit Dietze. A company with high ecological standards also includes high social standards with correspondingly good working conditions.
Water supply concerns critics
The Brandenburg Minister of the Environment, Axel Vogel, believes that there are still enough water supplies in spite of climate change and growth in the greater Berlin area. The groundwater is sufficient. Locally, however, there are clear problems. There were also problems for Berlin and the surrounding area because people and industry needed more and more water.
According to environmentalists, Tesla’s water supply is not secure. The managing director of the Green League Brandenburg, Michael Ganschow, criticized the decision of the administrative court in Frankfurt (Oder) that it had decided “contrary to all scientific expertise” and the drinking water supply in a lawsuit by the Green League and the nature conservation association Nabu against the state because of a Approval for water withdrawal also for Tesla for 30 years as secured.
The court had rejected a water supply from the Eggersdorf waterworks at the beginning of March for formal reasons. Public participation now has to be made up for a higher volume of water. The country continues to tolerate the withdrawal of the full amount of the permit of 3.8 million cubic meters of water per year.
Tesla had reduced the planned water consumption in the planning. According to earlier information, the company estimates 2.2 cubic meters per vehicle including battery production and emphasizes that this is below the industry average of more than 3 cubic meters. Residents and environmentalists still want to demonstrate at the opening.
According to their own statements, the Green League and Nabu want to appeal this week through their lawyer against the overall approval for the Tesla factory. The State Office for the Environment has “delayed or refused” the submission of the current application documents in recent weeks. The environmental organizations would therefore have to force themselves to inspect the files.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
