Tesla's prospective German home region ready to process application for gigafactory

The German district near Berlin that e-carmaker Tesla has chosen as the location for its first European gigafactory is awaiting the paperwork from the US company to go ahead with necessary preparation, news ageny dpa reports in an article carried by the newspaper Tagesspiegel. The Landkreis (administrative district) in which the host town of Grünheide is located said it could start the permission process as soon as it received planning documents. However, despite ambitious plans to start construction in 2020, "the legal framework must be adhered to," commented local administrative Rolf Lindemann. The project's environmental impact, public participation processes and compatibility with the Federal Immission Control Act must all be taken into account, the district said.

Tesla's decision to build its first European gigafactory for batteries and vehicles in Germany will give an enormous boost to the country's lagging shift to electric mobility, politicians and mobility experts have said.  Tesla plans to invest about four billion euros and create thousands of jobs at the site in the easterm state of Brandenburg, an economically relatively weak region that produces a lot of renewable energy.