Status: 11/26/2021 12:20 p.m.
When building its battery factory in Grünheide, the US car manufacturer Tesla is foregoing billions in government subsidies. A corresponding application was withdrawn without a reason. The Gigafactory should still be built.
The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is waiving possible government funding in the billions for the planned battery production in Grünheide near Berlin. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Tesla. Tesla has informed the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics that it does not want to pursue participation in the second major European project for battery cell production (EuBatIn), the car manufacturer said. That is why the company withdrew the application for state funding for an IPCEI (transnational project of common European interest) for the battery factory in Grünheide.
“Tesla is still sticking to its plans for the battery and recycling factory in the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg,” explained the group. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, this shows “that Germany is an attractive investment location and that foreign investors are investing in Germany and Brandenburg”. And: “The government funds not used by Tesla are now available for other projects.”
So far, the US group still lacks the final building permit, which is expected this year. The Americans are also trying to get regional funding for the battery plant, which has not yet been decided.
Musk plans to start production this year
The Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs said that Tesla’s decision to build a state-of-the-art battery cell factory in Brandenburg would lead to additional added value with jobs and structural developments and would be a gain for the state.
Tesla not only wants to build a car factory near Berlin, but also build new types of batteries. Tesla boss Elon Musk wants production of his first car factory in Europe to start this year.