About a year ago, car manufacturer Tesla applied to expand its factory. The state of Brandenburg has now made a decision on the matter. This does not concern the controversial expansion of the site.
The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is allowed to expand its only car factory in Europe in order to increase production capacity. The Brandenburg State Office for the Environment gave the green light for this, according to the Ministry of the Environment. This means that Tesla can start initial construction work ahead of schedule.
This involves expanding production on the existing factory site without clearing forest – in other words, it is not about the planned expansion of the site to build a freight station, which was accompanied by protests. Tesla wants to double the planned production of 500,000 cars in Grünheide near Berlin to one million cars a year; the most recent estimate was around 300,000 cars.
Environmental groups are skeptical
Environmentalists and residents have serious concerns because the plant is partly located in a water protection area. For the expansion, the car manufacturer wants to build another large hall and optimize existing production facilities. The capacity of battery storage production is also to be increased.
According to the ministry, the early start of construction involves a logistics area for new cars, including underground lines, as well as the construction of staircases at the press shop and solar panels on roofs. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) supports the planned expansion. In March, previously unknown perpetrators carried out an attack on Tesla’s power supply.
Source: Stern
