The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is allowed to expand its only car factory in Europe to increase production capacity. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment gave the green light. This means that Tesla can begin early with the first construction work in Grünheide near Berlin.
This is about expanding production on the existing factory site without clearing forest, 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; most recently, around 300,000 cars were reached.
Hundreds of jobs affected
The US company of Elon Musk (53) has been producing electric cars at the factory in Brandenburg since March 2022. Around 12,000 employees work there. The worldwide planned job cuts at Tesla in view of the slack on the market for electric cars also affect hundreds of jobs in the factory in Grünheide. The company had in April 400 job cuts announced for the plant. Tesla still plans to ramp up production there in the future.
Environmentalists and residents have major concerns about the expansion of production and expansion because the plant is partly located in a water protection area. The car manufacturer wants to build another large hall and optimize existing production facilities. The capacity of battery storage production is also expected to increase.
Protests against Tesla have been going on for months
According to the ministry, the early start of construction will initially involve a logistics area for new vehicles, including underground cables as well as the construction of stairwells at the pressing plant and solar systems on roofs. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (66; SPD) supports the planned expansion. In March, previously unknown perpetrators carried out an attack on Tesla’s power supply.