This will be Tesla’s second electric vehicle factory overseas and the third in the world.
Editor’s note: This article comes from “ Tencent Technology “, Reviewer: Cheng Xi.
With the successful launch of Tesla ’s plant in Shanghai, China, and the start of delivery of electric vehicles to Chinese subscribers, the company has also begun to expand on a global scale. At the end of last year, Musk, the head of Tesla, announced that he plans to build another electric vehicle factory near Berlin, Germany. This will be Tesla’s second electric vehicle factory overseas and the third factory in the world. This project has aroused public opinion.
According to the latest news from foreign media, on January 19, the German local government said that Tesla had agreed to purchase a plot in the suburbs of Berlin, making it closer to the construction of the first European factory.
The US automaker announced last November that it plans to build a large plant in Gruenheide, in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. As local competitors prepare to launch pure electric car models competing for market share, Tesla is preparing to label its electric cars with the coveted “Made in Germany” label.
Brandenburg government spokesman Florian Engels said in a statement that Tesla’s board of directors approved the acquisition agreement with Brandenburg on Saturday, The 300-hectare parcel was approved for sale by the State Council Finance Committee on January 9.
A Tesla spokesperson confirmed the transaction.
Engers said that the agreement stipulates an initial land acquisition price of 40.91 million euros ($ 45.36 million), but if external valuation agencies provide different valuations of land values in the future, the Tesla acquisition Prices can be modified.
He added that the plot is located in an industrial area and is being inspected for weapons of World War II because there is likely to be an unexploded American bomb underground.
German politicians, unions and industry groups welcome Tesla’s move. According to German media reports, Tesla’s electric vehicle plant in Glenhead will have an annual production capacity of up to 500,000 vehicles and will produce Model 3 and Mo.Del Y and other models, the total investment of this plant is as high as about 4.4 billion U.S. dollars, and 7,000 jobs will be created in the future. In the long run, this project will provide more than 10,000 direct or indirect jobs. In addition, German and local governments will also provide $ 330 million in investment subsidies to the project as a reward for Tesla’s decision.
It is reported that Brandenburg officials plan to build a supply chain of electric vehicles around Tesla, and have recently started to contact other industry manufacturers. This move will have a big impact on the traditional German giants.
In Shanghai, China, Tesla’s electric vehicle plant has been successfully put into production. Recently, Tesla has lowered the price of domestic Model 3 below the psychological threshold of 300,000 yuan, which has attracted the attention of Chinese consumers. It is generally believed that with the increase in production, Tesla will reduce prices in China on a large scale, thereby using the capacity of the Shanghai plant to tap the Chinese electric vehicle market share, which has brought great benefits to other domestic new electric vehicle companies. Threat.
In addition, Tesla also said that in the future, it will gradually realize the localization of parts and components in the Shanghai plant, that is, electric vehicle parts and components will mainly rely on Chinese domestic suppliers, which will also help to cultivate and improve China’s domestic electric vehicle supply chain.
In Shanghai, China, Tesla’s factory construction project has become a miracle. It took only about one year from the ground breaking of the factory to the delivery of the first new cars. In Brandenburg, Germany, it is worth noting whether Tesla can once again create a “Shanghai Factory Miracle”.
It should be pointed out that both the Model 3 and Model Y produced by Tesla in Germany are already relatively mature models. Among them, Model Y has been released earlier. Tesla’s Fremont plant in California will start mass production of Model Y this year and deliver electric vehicles to subscribers.
Protested against water
In the world, Europe is the region that attaches the greatest importance to environmental protection. To build a huge electric vehicle factory in Germany, Tesla still needs to pass the environmental protection pass and relevant public opinion. According to foreign media reports, on Saturday, about 250 Germans protested on the outskirts of Berlin and opposed the construction of a giant factory by Tesla’s Brandenburg state, saying its construction would endanger water and wildlife in the area.
While the German government and many people have welcomed Tesla’s investment projects, saying it will bring jobs to the region, environmental issues forced hundreds of locals to take to the streets on Saturday.
“We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is stealing our water,” the protesters shouted.
On Thursday, the German Brandenburg Water Association issued a warning that Tesla’s establishment of a large electric vehicle factory will bring “wide and serious problems in drinking water supply and wastewater treatment” to the local area. A warning message sparked protests from local residents.
Ann Bach, a 27-year-old environmental activist, said Tesla ’s plant construction plan announced earlier this month showed that the entire electric vehicle plant will need more than 300 cubic meters of water per hour, which will Deplete the region’s decreasing water reserves.
“I don’t oppose Tesla, but I oppose the location of the factory, which is built in the forest of a wildlife sanctuary. Is this necessary?” Bach said.
“In an ecosystem like this, in the context of climate change, site selection is clearly problematic, and I don’t understand why I didn’t choose another location from the beginning,” said Frank Gesto, a local. The husband said he was a member of the local organization “Glenhead Against Tesla Factory Citizens Initiative”, which organized Saturday’s protests.
In the past, German environmentalists’ protests have stopped or postponed construction plans of some large companies, such as the RWE mining of brown coal in the Hammbach forest near Cologne, which has become a symbol of anti-coal protests. .
Gersdorf and Bach said Saturday’s protests spontaneously developed from earlier 50-person forest walk demonstrations. In previous protests, environmentalists opposed Tesla’s German factory to clear about 300 hectares of forest, which would have a huge impact on a large number of wildlife, including birds, insects and bats.
Other reasons for the protest include that Tesla’s large electric vehicle factory will bring huge traffic to nearby highways and villages, causing traffic congestion.
Sound support project
But it is worth mentioning that on Saturday, next to the protest crowd, on the other side of the street, about 20 people held banners to welcome the Tesla factory to their village, and the children shouted, “We Here, we want to shout (Welcome Tesla), because Tesla is building our future. “
Bernd Kutz, a local resident of Glenhead, said Tesla will bring economic improvements to the region, create a lot of jobs, and provide opportunities for young people.
Kuz said, “I’m here because I don’t understand the demonstrators who yell and show us their fingers. Why are they always so negative?”
An opportunity for a quiet town
For Glenhead, a quiet town in the state of Grandenburg (it sits between two lakes on the edge of the nature reserve in southeast Berlin), Tesla’s local investment project is their Ushering in a second development opportunity.
20 years ago, when German BMW chose Leipzig to build a plant, Glenhead suffered a failure in the competition for the BMW plant.
When Tesla from the United States expressed interest in building its first European plant in Germany, memories of that missed opportunity prompted officials in the town of Glenhead to move quickly.The site of the plant is reserved for industrial use and provides easy access to highways and railway lines.
“Tesla’s investment is a unique opportunity,” said Glenn Hyde Mayor Arne Cristiani in his office, with a map of the Tesla project hanging on the wall. “It makes it possible for young people who are well educated or have a college degree to stay in our region-a choice that hasn’t existed in the past few years.”
According to company documents, Tesla’s plant in Glenhead will produce Tesla batteries, powertrains and vehicles, including Model 3 and Model Y and any future cars.
According to the plan, the Tesla factory area will include a stamping plant, a paint shop and a large seat manufacturing plant, which is almost three times the length of the Titanic. The large area of this plant provides the conditions for Tesla’s future manufacturing expansion.
Musk and Tesla’s dream is to replace traditional internal combustion engines with pure electric cars. Now his challenge plan is marching into the center of the internal combustion engine, the German automobile industry, where established car companies have long mocked Tes Ra is an upstart with a weak financial foundation that cannot compete with their rich car heritage. At the award ceremony in Berlin last November, Musk accidentally revealed the news of investing and building a factory, which shocked the senior leaders of the German automotive industry.
Merzler Bank analyst Jurgen Pierper said: “Elon Musk is heading to where his strongest competitor is and entering the heart of the global automotive industry. Given Germany ’s high Wages, strong unions, and high taxes, no other foreign carmaker has done so for decades. “
Building a plant in Europe’s largest automotive market is a major test of Musk’s global ambitions. Demand in the region is relatively stable, and buyers are more loyal to local car brands. At the same time, the labor cost of the German automotive industry is 50% higher than that of the United States and five times that of Poland (Poland is only an hour’s drive from Glenhead, Grandenburg).
On the positive side, electric vehicle manufacturing requires less labor, and Germany has a deep talent pool for automotive professionals. The location chosen by this factory also offers some soft power advantage close to German leaders (close to the city of Berlin).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has been accused of sluggish movements in the automotive industry’s transition from internal combustion engines to pure electric cars, so Merkel’s government stretched out to Musk and Tess Welcome hand.
According to foreign media reports, German Economy Minister Peter Altmeer has stated that he is willing to help resolve some regulatory policy obstacles that Tesla faces in building an electric vehicle factory in Germany. After the project was announced, the minister stated that the Tesla plant will have a huge impact on Germany.
German automobile companies have been slow in the development of pure electric vehicles in the past years.Compared with Tesla, German counterparts are struggling with the costly shift to abandon internal combustion engines. Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler announced layoffs of thousands last year, and last year German car production fell to its lowest level in nearly 25 years.
For Glenhead, the planned investment suddenly turned this 8,700-person town into a hot spot. Kristiani said that local officials receive a variety of project development proposals every day: from 22-story apartment buildings to American-style shopping malls, a variety of investment projects. Kristiani hopes that Tesla’s plant will help raise funds for public transportation, schools and medical facilities.
In the City Hall, there are five thick binders for locals to read the details of the Tesla project, including an estimated 463 trucks entering the factory every day, a railway branch for train transportation, and a factory fire brigade. .
Tesla still needs to go through many difficulties. Residents can raise objections, and some have complained that they have rarely seen news of the company since it made a sensational announcement. At the same time, the local water company warned that it would not be able to provide sufficient water to the area in a timely manner and expressed concern about its location in areas where drinking water sources are protected by law.
The mayor hopes that these obstacles will be cleared so that the first vehicle manufactured at the Glenhead Tesla Electric Vehicle Factory can be rolled out in July next year.