It appears that Tesla’s new European Gigafactory in Germany is not expected to be operational until January 2022. According to Automobilwoche (sister site of Automotive News), company CEO Elon Musk has given the team in charge of the plant six more months to complete the project.
On April 26, Tesla said production at the plant is expected to kick start later this year, after pushing back its initial July target. This was due to some changes made in its planning application, which requires another round of public consultation, therefore the delay in getting regulatory approval, said the Brandenburg environment ministry.
The delay was specifically related to the plant’s battery pack production sector, company sources have been quoted as saying, who added that battery production will not start by the end of the year. However, construction of the main factory structure, along with the press shop and paint shop, is well advanced.
It was communicated to the press that Tesla plans to build up to 500,000 cars annually at the new Gigafactory, with 12,000 employees manning the facility that is said to be as large as 420 football fields. The Model Y will be the first car to be rolled off the line, followed by the Model 3 sedan, its best-selling car.
The Berlin Gigafactory will be the fourth facility in the company’s portfolio, with the most recent being Gigafactory 3 that is located in Shanghai. The other two Gigafactories are located in the US, specifically in Buffalo, New York, and Storey County, Nevada.
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If Germany have such reservations about battery production without extensive assurances from Tesla, how sure are we that poorer countries, ie Indonesia, will not suffer massive environmental pollution when they also start to produce EV batteries, knowing that their Govt won’t be so strict to enforce environmental requirements as in Germany?
If such a fallout in Indonesia were to happen, what assurance do we get from Tesla and all the other EV makers that such environmental disaster won’t affect us in Malaysia? We mustn’t be too happy when EV makers cometh as we learnt the effects of nuclear power.
Why do you compare the environmental effects of EV battery manufacturing to that of nuclear power generation? Are you implying that EV batteries are some how radioactive?
EV battery making is highly toxic, highly polluting if not handled with proper procedures, and gorging of the earth for rare minerals, often these have trace radiation which gets centralised in processing centers ie Lynas. If people were afraid of Lynas, they should tremble in fear of EV battery making in their backyard.
No doubt the main elements crucial to the manufacture of EV batteries, lithium & cobalt, can be chemically toxic, but note that the GHS hazard pictogram for lithium only indicates that it is flammable and corrosive, and the GHS hazard pictogram for cobalt indicates only biological health hazard, but neither has been classified as a radioactive material like uranium.
Improper disposal of car EV batteries could lead to explosive outcomes. If something small as Note7 battery could cause so much harm, just imagine the mayhem a car sized EV stack could cause.
That’s due to the chemical reaction, which has nothing to do with radioactivity or a nuclear reaction.
People think oil production effects are not as bad as nuclear fallout never heard of Exxon Valdez, Persian Gulf War, or Deep Sea Horizon oil spillage disaster that caused more harm to environment and ecolife compared to Chernobyl.
Its so funny that EV car born to eliminate the pollution of gas from petroleum yet EV battery itself is toxic af. Until EV battery get a proper SOP in production by develop country, poorer country should stay away if they want their land be clean as possible, or maybe they rather to have wealth over health
Indonesia is chasing that. Of course their gomen dun care about lives, they have 100million souls to spare.
And yet we have some peeps here aping this chase of wealth over health. *Shake head*
Oh please, what are we doing to rubbish? Same thing. Everything u do down to your underwear has microplastics. Those are even detrimental to the environment.