Electric vehicle giant Tesla encountered a major setback in its plans to expand the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg in Germany as Grünheide residents voted against the proposal, DW reports.
It must be noted that the vote results are not binding. Therefore, the final decision remains in the hands of the local government.
Expansion plan
As part of the expansion plans, Tesla plans to develop a rail freight depot, storage facilities, and an on-site kindergarten for the factory workers’ children. Tesla argues that these plans will reduce pressure on other rail companies and enable it to hire more employees.
In addition, the extra warehouse space is expected to enhance Tesla’s supply security. It is crucial for the American automaker, as it was prompted to halt Giga Berlin-Brandenburg’s production due to shipping turmoils in the Red Sea.
It also aims to boost the gigafactory’s battery production capacity to a whopping 100 gigawatt hours and up to 1 million vehicles per year.
However, these expansion plans would result in deforestation of about “250 acres of forest in the rural community of fewer than 8,000 residents near a nature conservation area.”
Tesla’s facility is at the southwest of the community, close to a highway junction leading to the A10 autobahn.
Community vote results
According to the report, 3,499 participants in the semi-formal citizen consultations voted against Tesla’s Giga Berlin-Brandenburg expansion proposal. Meanwhile, only 1,882 voted in favor of Tesla.
The local administration released the vote results on Tuesday, February 20. The results reflect the citizens’ prevailing concerns about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed Giga Berlin-Brandenburg expansion.
As per the project opponents, the expansion will harm a water protection zone. For context, Grünheide is a town located between two lakes. In that sense, some of the locals formed the “Grünheide Citizens’ Initiative” to oppose Tesla’s proposal.
“The no is a historic victory for forest and water protection — not just in Grünheide, but for all of Brandenburg and Berlin.”
Manu Hoyer, Grünheide Citizens’ Initiative member
Minister sees the rejection as an opportunity
Despite Tesla’s failure to secure the community vote, Brandenburg Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) contends that the setback could be an “opportunity” for Tesla to address the citizens’ concerns and try to compromise. Tesla can also fine-tune the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg expansions by considering the citizens’ prevailing concerns.
“It shows that the scales tip considerably towards people’s concerns and fears. Now it is important to find answers to the open questions. I see the result of this vote also as a motivation for the local authorities and for Tesla, to find conceptual solutions in the coming weeks and months for those concerns not yet assuaged.”
Jörg Steinbach, Brandenburg Economics Minister
It would be interesting to see how local officials would proceed with Tesla’s Giga Berlin-Brandenburg expansion plans. Although the community vote is not binding, it remains an important basis for them to approve Tesla’s proposal.
