Tesla Gigafactory

Tesla, Inc. is the world’s largest electric car manufacturer. These engines are mainly characterized by their energy-saving operation due to the usage of lithium-ion batteries. As they reduce air pollution and noise emissions the cars are being considered as the green solution for an urban ecological mobility.

In total, Tesla runs six production factories in the United States, Germany, and China. The Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, inaugurated in March 2022, is the first production facility in whole Europe. The company expects to achieve a production rate of 25,000 per year (5000 vehicles per week) until the end of 2023. As a result the site is being expanded to up to 400 ha. For the year of 2022 Tesla reported 1,31M deliveries worldwide.

The plant in Germany is located in a drinking water protection area which includes a protected well only 1.5 km further away. The site borders the Spree River, which flows through other drinking water protection areas, into Müggelsee Lake and through the city of Berlin. Due to specific geological and climate conditions, the water bodies in the surrounding landscape and nature conservation areas are already under severe stress. Berlin-Brandenburg is one of Germany’s regions with the lowest rainfall rate. Groundwater levels have been steadily decreasing since 2018 due to very dry summers. The already approved withdrawal volume of fresh water up to 1,8M m 3 per year from the nearby waterworks overloads the current capacities. In order to sustain the water supply from the entire region, the output has had to be increased from 2.5M m 3 per year to 3,8M m 3 per year. In the long term, the water extraction will negatively affect local eco-systems, soils as well as the water quality. Very similar concerns exist already in Mexico, where Tesla wants to implement another Gigafactory by
2024.

The state of Brandenburg, formerly belonging to the GDR, was confronted with economic decline in the last thirty years. Although there is an awareness of the negative environmental impact in the neighboring communities, the Tesla Gigafactory is mostly being considered as positive due to the job creation and contribution to the economic upswing. However, organized civil society, various local environmental groups and research institutions are closely monitoring Tesla’s developments in Brandenburg. Since the beginning of constructions in 2020, these actors have organized themselves to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of the plant. A common protest slogan is the exclamation:

Wir sind hier, wir sind laut, weil Tesla uns das Wasser klaut!
We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is stealing our water!

The positive image of green energy is diminished by the high resource consumption of water required on site and the global mining of lithium and cobalt required for the battery production. A closer look at
the idea of green energy reveals ambivalences in terms of environmental inequality. After all, who ultimately benefits from clean cars in the city? And who suffers from the negative environmental consequences? For whom is green energy actually remaining green?