Car maker
Battery subsidy: Tesla waives government subsidies
A large logo of the Tesla brand is on a construction container in front of the Tesla Gigafactory east of Berlin. Photo: Patrick Pleul / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
It could have been billions in funding – but Tesla waived. The car manufacturer is sticking to the construction of a battery factory on the site of the car factory near Berlin.
The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is waiving possible government funding in the billions for the planned battery production in Grünheide near Berlin.
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Tesla announced this on Friday at the request of the German Press Agency.
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. “However, Tesla is sticking to its plans for the battery and recycling factory in the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg.”
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.” The aid for the project in Grünheide had been approved by the EU Commission.
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. But the approval by the state of Brandenburg is still pending. Another online discussion by critics of the project ended on Monday.