Elon Musk in Brandenburg: “Relaxed evening meeting”

“Very relaxed evening meeting,” tweeted Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Jörg Steinbach, about a photo of Musk in a black T-shirt and a scarf. Accordingly, Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke was also present at the meeting and Musk’s family. “We exchanged trustfully about the tasks still to be done,” wrote Steinbach.

Tesla is building a car factory in Grünheide near Berlin near the capital’s airport. The e-car group plans to build around 500,000 copies of the compact Model 3 and Model Y series there every year. Originally, the company wanted to start production in July. The end of the year is now in the room.

Union Chancellor candidate and CDU boss Armin Laschet is planning a visit to the Tesla Gigafactory on Friday.

After the renewed public display of the plans, only 44 objections to the construction of the factory have so far been received by the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment (LfU). Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) reported in the State Parliament’s Environment Committee. The deadline for objections does not end until August 19th. In the first interpretation of the documents last year, 373 objections were received and in a second interpretation 110.

After the end of the period, the LfU will decide whether there will be another public hearing, the minister said. Should this be necessary, the public hearing should take place on September 13th in the town hall in Erkner.

Vogel said when the final decision on the environmental approval of the factory would be made is not yet foreseeable because of the ongoing proceedings. In September 2020, the hearing of critics of the project had lasted several days.