Approval in Grünheide: Tesla factory should be able to start in March

Approval in Grünheide
Tesla factory should be able to start in March

02/28/2022 10:43 am

Tapes from the Tesla car factory are already rolling on a trial basis, but pending approvals repeatedly delay the start of production. The US electric carmaker appears to have cleared these hurdles: According to one report, Tesla should have final approval within days.

Final approval of the Tesla factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg, is expected this week. This is reported by the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. This would pave the way for the official start of production. As the newspaper also reports, preparations are already underway for the groundbreaking ceremony in March at the site of the newly built car factory. But a legal dispute with environmental organizations and residents has yet to be resolved for Tesla boss Elon Musk.

However, with the final approval, the last crucial hurdle for the start of production would have been overcome, so that the American electric car manufacturer, as Musk had announced to customers, can deliver the first Y-series vehicles in March. The approximately 2,500 employees who have been hired by the American company at the Brandenburg site are already producing test vehicles.

According to the report, there will probably be an official handover of the decision to Tesla at the State Chancellery of Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke of the SPD. Accordingly, a date should already be set for the celebration: March 22 or 23 at the Grünheide plant. Musk should fly for this too. The newspaper is based on information from the Brandenburg police, who will secure the event. Prominent representatives of politics and business are also expected, such as SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Green Economy Minister Robert Habeck. As part of the celebration, the first 30 vehicles produced in Grünheide will also be handed over to customers.

The legal dispute over the water supply remains open

With the start in March 2022, Tesla is way behind schedule: Musk had originally planned for the first vehicles to be completed at Grünheide from June 2021 – construction at record speed. On the one hand, the delays are due to the complicated approval process with high requirements, high environmental and participation standards, and complaints from environmental organizations.

On the other hand, the US electric car maker had put obstacles in its way when it expanded the application for the electric car factory to include a battery cell factory in the ongoing process. This has necessitated another public reinterpretation of plans for the site, which is partly in a water protection area and close to a nature reserve.

Employees summoned to works council elections

The dispute over the supply of water to the plant has accompanied the project from the beginning. Environmental groups and residents fear negative consequences due to high water consumption and have filed a lawsuit. The hearing has been postponed several times and is now scheduled for March 4 at the Administrative Court in Frankfurt (Oder). The question is whether the authorizations granted by the State Environment Agency in 2020 for higher flows from the Eggersdorf treatment plant, from which the Strausberg-Erkner Water Association (WSE) also wants to supply the new Tesla factory, are illegal.

According to information from IG Metall, around 500,000 vehicles will be built at the plant each year. Up to 12,000 jobs are planned in the company. Today the workers of the new factory in Grünheide are summoned to elect a works council.