Tesla Reaches Agreement with German Authority for Gigafactory Construction near Berlin

by
Tolu Ajiboye
My articles My books
Follow on:

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Tesla is making interesting strides with its car factory as it has now inched very close to erection. Per a statement from the Brandenburg state government, authorities have agreed to the terms of a contract between both parties, for the sale of land in Grunheide, a municipality close to the capital. The land near Berlin is 300 hectares large (741 acres) and will house the gigafactory that will be built by Tesla.

Apart from the terms stipulated in the contract, Tesla has also filed documents with other authorities in the city, with details of the gigafactory and what effects it will have on the area and the environment in general. The documents are not only mandatory but will help with final approval from the government.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in November that the company was making plans to build its first European gigafactory in Germany near Berlin. At the time, the company didn’t give much information but said the factory will be in the “Berlin area” and will also be somewhere around the city’s new airport. When completed, the gigafactory is expected to have a staff strength of up to 10,000 and might be able to produce up to 500,000 electric vehicles in a year.

The new agreement falls in line with Brandenburg’s ongoing progression into being an important hub for the auto sector. Along with Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, these German states are looking to add the auto industry to their already established reputation for other endeavors like power generation.

Joerg Steinbach, the Economy Minister of Brandenburg, shared:

“We’ve reached two additional milestones before Christmas. That makes me optimistic that this spectacular project can make further headway next year.”

Competition with Porsche

While Tesla is still the widely-accepted yardstick for measuring electric vehicles, Porsche might just be overtaking. A fiery competition that has been ongoing between Tesla’s Model S and the Porsche Taycan already has the former in the losing position.

Interestingly, the rivalry began from Musk himself. The largely controversial CEO went on Twitter back in September, with a tweet seemingly mocking Porsche, thinly suggesting that his Tesla was faster. In October, Top Gear then tested both cars in a drag race that ended with the Taycan in the lead. Even though there were a lot of complaints from viewers in the video’s comment section as well as from Musk himself (he did it via a tweet), Top Gear insists that the race was free and fair.

Speaking to CCN, PartCatalog auto expert Alan Marek has said that there’s a chance that the race will trigger a Model S upgrade. According to Marek:

“Our bet is that Porsche is now going to force Tesla to innovate the S even further. Tesla has continually tweaked the car over the years, but it hasn’t seen a major redesign yet. Our bet is that the time for a major redesign is drawing near.”

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla (TSLA) is currently sitting at $405.59, dropping from a pre-market $412.38 figure. Recently, Coinspeaker reported that TSLA is looking good because the general sentiment, even from skeptics, is considerably encouraging. The company has been able to turn its books around and balance out its heavy huge debts and has taken advantage of the initial mockery of its Cybertruck, turning it around for good. 

“…even the bears recognize that Tesla’s about to have an earnings breakout, perhaps as soon as next year”, noted CNBC’s Jim Cramer.

Author: Tolu Ajiboye

Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge. When he's not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.