Tesla's Plans To Expand Factory Nixed By German City Council
It's possible the plans won't be revisited until the end of 2023.
Tesla's grand plans to expand the footprint of its German factory are now being put on hold. The unfortunate news for the automaker came after the plans were taken off the agenda of the local municipal council.
Reuters reports the mayor of Gruenheide, where Tesla's factory is located, struck the item from the September meeting agenda. They said the council needs more clarification on Tesla's plans. They also couldn't say whether or not the issue would be addressed in 2022.
The outlet says Tesla submitted an application this past may to expand its 300 hectares of land by another 100 hectares to the east.
The land Tesla owns is currently being used for its auto and battery factory. It plans to build a freight station, logistics area and parking spaces on the additional planned 100 hectares.
This news comes literally one day after the company said it was finally ramping up Model Y production at the German plant.
Tesla didn't give exact current production figures, but it did say it was building 1,000 cars per week during the summer. The company plans to quintuple that output to 5,000 vehicles per week by the first quarter of 2023. It's being done in an effort to hit Tesla's goal of producing 2 million cars next year.
It's not immediately clear how this road bump from the Gruenheide council will impact Tesla's goals, but we'll be sure to follow up if anything else comes from their decision. We'll certainly keep and eye on Elon Musk's Twitter account as well.