Photo: @tobilindh/Twitter
The expansion of Tesla's factory in Germany should not face problems with water supply. In 2023, in Hangelsberg in the Oder-Spree region, construction of a hydraulic structure could begin, which will also supply Tesla's Giga Berlin, a spokesperson for the state ministry of the environment said.
Tesla's factory faced opposition in Germany, and the water supply became one of the stumbling blocks. It should be noted that in fact, this issue has already been openly resolved and commented on, both by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Strausberg-Erkner Water Association (WSE). However, the facts continue to be distorted by stakeholders, portraying the American manufacturer as a villain.
ZDF Info, a German public-service television broadcasting network, recently released a documentary "Turbo, Speed, Tesla Elon Musk in Brandenburg." As it turned out, the film contained a fake tweet from Musk, parts of his statements taken out of context to distort reality, false information regarding salaries for Giga Berlin, and unfounded accusations of the manufacturer that it accepts state financial aid, while creating bad working conditions for German citizens. (Exposing of the lies used in the film can be read here.)
Water supply was one of the issues raised in the film, so this needs to be clarified. At the moment, at Phase 1 of expansion, the plant will need 1.4 million cubic meters of water per year. The American manufacturer and the WSE have signed a contract for the supply and maximum consumption of 1.5 million cubic meters of water per year. Musk previously mentioned that this calculation was based on peak factory consumption, but in reality, these are not daily events, so water consumption will be lower. That is why any accusations and problems based on this have no basis.
The second point was the problem that Tesla does not have an ensured water supply for the subsequent phases of expansion. And although at the moment this is true, and the contract has not been signed (there are no guarantees that Tesla will expand in the future), it is expected that this issue will be resolved without bringing risk to the region.
On March 11, Anke Herrmann, who is in charge of water and soil protection at the Ministry of the Environment, explained that the state plans to build a new hydraulic structure in the long term in Hangelsberg to supply water to Tesla's new factory. In a new comment from March 23, received by RBB24, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment said that the construction of the new hydraulic structure could begin as early as 2023 and it could supply water not only to Giga Berlin, but to the entire Freienbrink industrial park.
According to a spokesperson, the Hangelsberg area has a groundwater system that is currently not being used. Water research has already begun here, and according to the available data, there is enough water on site to supply water to Tesla's factory and other businesses. Thus, all the water reserves at the current hydraulic structure will be fully available to the growing communities immediately after the new hydraulic structure is put into operation.
On March 20, the Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment issued an official statement that should settle the issue of water shortages once and for all.
"Brandenburg currently has sufficient groundwater resources for the production of drinking water, as well as for the supply of trade and industry. This applies to both the quantity of water and its quality."
Unfortunately, some of the German media have repeatedly distorted reality in order to form a negative impression of the American manufacturer. Tesla has come to the heart of the European automotive industry and could cause irreparable harm to those companies that do not want to stop producing gasoline and diesel vehicles.
The truth is that our planet needs urgent change to stop the colossal emission of carbon dioxide, a big part of which comes from cars with internal combustion engines (around 18% in 2017 according to the European Commission and the IEA). Instead of trying to harm Tesla, which made electric cars desirable and thus encouraging people to switch to green vehicles, all of us should support this company, which will not only help our planet end its oil addiction, but also create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process of doing this. Our descendants deserve a better future!
© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
