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Yet another twist for the Gigafactory in Germany, located on the outskirts of Berlin. Last year, in December, the environmentalists had suspended the work from the factory, for environmental reasons. This time around, the project is still delayed and probably won’t open until next fall.

You have to go back almost 2 years to see the beginnings of the project. It is in November 2019 that Tesla had announced its desire to build a factory in Europe, in order to assemble its models intended for the European markets, with priority being placed on the Model Y which represents a very large part of sales for the group.

In February 2020, just before the coronavirus episode which upset all the schedules, the work had already stopped for several days.

New twists

It is in Germany, in the Brandenburg region surrounding Berlin, which the factory was due to open next July already. But the events were decided otherwise …

“Due to procedural aspects and Tesla’s wish to include further improvements in the current procedure, Tesla intends to amend the building permit application again”, the Brandenburg region said in a statement.

“As more detailed information on the nature and extent of the planned changes is not yet available, details of what to do next and the time until the final decision will only be available a later date “, adds the region. For the moment, German media mentioned a postponement of the opening to next October.

A project already slowed down by environmentalists

The project has already been forced to stop due in particular to environmentalists at the end of last year: the neighborhood close to the factory had expressed its concerns about the local fauna that would be potentially disturbed.

It was German justice that had forced Tesla to suspend his work, citing a complaint from an environmental association which feared the destruction of the natural habitat of protected species of lizards and snakes.

In recent weeks, the future water consumption of the plant has been the subject of debate: according to a survey by the ZDF television channel, the Gigafactory could eventually consume nearly 3.6 million cubic meters of water each year, which would represent 30% of the water volume available in the region.

The final approval is still under consideration and the authorities have yet to monitor the environmental impact of the project. If the permit is not granted, Tesla could, in theory, be forced to dismantle the facility at its own expense.

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