On Tuesday, March 22, Elon Musk already handed over the first 30 Teslas produced in Brandenburg to selected customers.
For the inauguration of the newest Tesla production site, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) were among the attendees. Both praised the start of the factory and the associated billions of investments.
Tesla CEO Musk referred to it as a milestone in the fight against climate change, in which the factory makes a significant contribution, and expressed optimism that the problem of climate change will be solved.
Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) is also satisfied. Both the state of Brandenburg and Tesla had caused each other many problems, but ultimately “we rocked the project together.”
While there is still much work to be done, Woidke emphasized that the factory will bring thousands of jobs and he is looking forward to the collaboration.
Tesla driving progress in Eastern Germany
In particular, because Tesla is making the location of Brandenburg and Eastern Germany known as a high-tech location in the world. This is a point also emphasized by Olaf Scholz, who sees Eastern Germany as a major beneficiary of the factory and stated that Eastern Germany is now “at the forefront of industry.”
In addition, Woidke announced that they will work on a new value chain for electromobility, sustainable economic growth, and climate neutrality.
Especially for Robert Habeck, this is a special day not only for electromobility but also for moving away from oil (especially Russian oil) and increasing independence from fossil fuels.
Regarding the short construction time of only two years for the factory, Scholz said that Germany can also be “fast.” This statement is almost ironic, as the not-so-glorious BER airport is located nearby.
Furthermore, the Gigafactory was able to start operations only because Musk decided to build without a final building permit. He relied almost throughout the entire process only on a provisional permit from the state of Brandenburg.
However, there are not only positive voices. Environmentalists continue to criticize the project, mainly due to concerns about issues with drinking water supply in the surrounding area. They also point out that electric vehicles are not necessarily environmentally friendly in terms of production, use, and disposal.
Overall, Tesla’s new production site is the largest electric car factory in Europe and Tesla’s first factory in Europe altogether. It is planned to produce around 500,000 cars annually.
As of now, there are already 3,500 employees working at the Grünheide site, making the US company one of the top 5 largest employers in the capital region.
With the first planned expansion phase, the number of employees is expected to grow to 12,000, and the factory is expected to become the third-largest automotive site in Germany in the medium term.
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Image by Squirrel_photos on Pixabay.