Tesla wants to speed up factory expansion

US electric car manufacturer - Tesla wants to speed up factory expansion

Anyone approaching the new entrance to the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin during Advent will pass a small Christmas market. There, employees can eat bratwurst and practice their curling skills. There are plenty of e-charging stations in the parking lot in front of the factory. Tesla wants to be different. Above all, fast: the factory was built and approved in record time by German standards and opened in March 2022. In 2024, the car manufacturer wants to get started with the expansion of its electric car factory as quickly as possible - if the environmental permit is granted.

"We hope that approval for the first partial application will be granted in the first quarter," Plant Manager André Thierig told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "The first partial approval for the expansion will be a milestone for us. It includes an assessment of the environmental impact of further expansion." The first part of the approval will establish that there are no insurmountable legal obstacles to the plans for further expansion.

No timetable for approval yet

The Brandenburg State Office for the Environment (LfU) has not yet given an estimate of when the decision will be made. According to spokesman Thomas Frey, the LfU is in the process of obtaining outstanding, final statements from the parties involved. At the same time, work is being carried out on a presentation of the expected effects, followed by the final review. Over 1000 objections from critics are to be incorporated into this. The authority had asked Tesla to improve or supplement the application documents in individual points.

Tesla wants to double production in Grünheide from the targeted 500,000 cars per year to one million per year with the expansion. According to the company, it currently produces more than 250,000 vehicles a year. The storage capacity for the production of battery cells is to increase from 50 to 100 gigawatt hours per year. For the expansion, Tesla is submitting an application for modification approval in three parts to the state of Brandenburg. Around 11,500 employees work in Grünheide, and this figure is set to rise to 22,500 with the expansion.

Environmentalists have concerns about the expansion. The site is partly located in a water protection area. Plans for up to around 81,000 piles for the foundations of a new plant building are controversial. Tesla rejects these concerns. The car manufacturer also wants to make do with the existing amount of water for the expansion.

Tesla: using less water than agreed

"We now recycle up to 100 percent of all our wastewater in the factory itself because we have upgraded our wastewater treatment plant," says the company. The amount of water used is less than half of what was contractually agreed with the Strausberg-Erkner water association - this corresponds to around four percent of the association's total production volume of around ten million cubic meters in 2022. "We are therefore certain that we will not need any additional water volumes for the further expansion."

The initial plans for the expansion include optimizations at the plant and new buildings such as a wastewater treatment plant and a hazardous materials storage facility. New buildings for car and battery production are to be constructed in further stages. Tesla currently has no plans to manufacture batteries entirely in Grünheide. The anti-inflation law in the USA with massive subsidies led Tesla to prioritize battery production in Austin, Texas. "The US government has created facts," says Grünheide.

The car manufacturer also wants to expand the factory site and build its own factory train station for freight transport, warehouses and a daycare center. In December 2022, the Grünheide municipal council voted by a majority in favor of drawing up a new development plan. Several objections were received, said Mayor Arne Christiani (non-party), after the deadline for the presentation of documents and objections expired. The Association for Nature and Landscape in Brandenburg - the citizens' initiative against Tesla - criticized the planned clearing of forest, among other things.

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