Grunheide Forest, Germany - At 8am on a morning in late November, on the outskirts of Berlin-Brandenburg, hundreds of police officers have entered the

The desperate last stand to save a forest from Tesla

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2024-12-22 02:30:04

Grunheide Forest, Germany - At 8am on a morning in late November, on the outskirts of Berlin-Brandenburg, hundreds of police officers have entered the Grunheide Forest, which has been occupied by activists from the "Stop Tesla" movement since the end of February.

The area, referred to as the "water forest occupation" has been the focus of a battle against expansion plans for Tesla's gigafactory - its fourth in the world and the first in Europe - which environmentalists say is causing irreparable damage to local water reserves in a region already suffering from drought.

Tesla’s factory, which already spans 300 hectares (741 acres), produces just less than 4,000 electric cars per week - or about 190,000 per year. The expansion plans, which are on hold for the time being because of “low demand”, according to Tesla”, would enable the facility to increase production to 1 million electric vehicles per year on a site some 100 hectares (247 acres) larger than it is now.

In 2023, Tesla was the second-largest electric vehicle (EV) company globally, selling more than 1.8 million vehicles. The Tesla Model Y, which is also produced in the German factory, was indisputably the best-selling car worldwide, achieving sales of more than 1.2 million in 2023.