German agency fines Tesla for allegedly failing to comply with battery recycling laws

Germany's Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has imposed a fine of twelve million euros on US e-carmaker Tesla for failing to comply with battery recycling regulations, Philipp Vetter reports for newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing documents Tesla submitted to US stock exchange supervision authority SEC. Tesla says the environment agency's claim that the carmaker is not complying with battery take-back obligations are unfounded, adding it had already objected to the fine. "We do not expect that this will have a significant negative impact on our business," the company said. Vetter writes that the German battery law stipulates that carmakers have to take back batteries they sold with their e-cars or commission a service provider to do it on their behalf, which Tesla is said to have failed to do.

The UBA earlier this year called for rapidly improving battery recycling capacities in Germany as the number of e-cars is expected to grow fast over the next years. An amendment to the country’s battery law introduced by the government during the summer was aimed at boosting battery recycling in the country but has been criticised for not going far enough. Tesla has also struggled with environmental regulations at its new production site near Berlin, which critics say will negatively impact the region's groundwater supply.