German Tesla plant may need to find new water supply pending hearing - Driving

Elon Musk laughed off the idea the plant would consume too much water, but a court will hear an environmental group's case

Author of the article:

Victoria Waldersee,  Reuters

Tesla head Elon Musk talks to the press as he arrives to to have a look at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 03, 2020 near Gruenheide, Germany. Photo by Maja Hitij /Getty

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Tesla may lose the water supply contract for its long-delayed German plant if environmental groups win a court case challenging a license granted to its water supplier at a hearing next week.

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The Frankfurt Oder administrative court will hear on March 4 a complaint filed by local groups claiming the Brandenburg environmental ministry carried out insufficient checks before granting the license to the Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner (WSE) utility.

If the groups win, WSE said it must cancel its contract with Tesla, and negotiations will begin again on where the plant could source its water — likely a lengthy process with no guaranteed solution.

A spokesperson for the court said a decision was expected the day of the hearing. Tesla declined to comment on the case.

A further delay would put another spanner in the works for the facility just as a broader approval process reaches its final stages.

Elon Musk had hoped to have the plant – key to his ambitions to conquer the European market where Volkswagen currently holds the upper hand with a 25-per-cent share of electric vehicle sales to Tesla’s 13 per cent – up and running six months ago.

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Following delays, he said in October last year that he hoped to have it operational by December. The company has not further updated its timetable for the launch.

The groups bringing the complaint, Gruene Liga and Nabu, fear the 1.4 million cubic meters of water a year Tesla needs for the plant – akin to the usage of a 30,000-person town – will drain the region of drinking water. Municipally-run WSE has itself flagged concerns over water supply.

While the Tesla plant does not use a particularly large quantity of water – others such as BASF’s battery plant a few hours away use more – the region’s reserves are finite, WSE spokesperson Sandra Ponetsky said.

“We are a relatively water-rich country,” she said. “But we need help from other regions… Which supplier has the capacity to just magic that much water out of a hat in such a short time period?”

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German Tesla plant may need to find new water supply pending hearing - Driving
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