Authorities in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where the plant is located, have issued final approval for the company’s first production site in Europe.

The green light was “a great day for Brandenburg, a big step into the future”, head of state Dietmar Woidke told a press conference, adding that the approval process had been a ” gigantic task”.

Brandenburg, which was once part of communist East Germany, hopes for an increase in employment from the new plant and has positioned itself as a hub for the production of electric vehicles.

“The future is very exciting!” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a tweet in German.

Also on Friday, German auto giant Volkswagen announced a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) investment in its own power plant, set to start at its main Wolfsburg site as early as early 2023.

Tesla parked its ambitions on Volkswagen’s lawn when it announced its plans for the Gruenheide plant, southeast of Berlin, to much fanfare in November 2019.

The Tesla factory, which is expected to produce 500,000 vehicles a year, went through an accelerated approval process and was allowed to begin construction before receiving final planning permission.

But the American manufacturer’s initial momentum was shattered by a series of legal and administrative difficulties, in part caused by angry residents concerned about the site’s environmental impact.

– Protected lizards –

Together with national environmental groups Nabu and Gruene Liga, locals did everything they could to obstruct Tesla’s plans, staging protests, appealing in court and writing open letters.

In 2020, the court ordered Tesla to stop work on the site after a complaint from local associations fearing the destruction of the habitat of endangered lizards and snakes.

The plant’s massive demand for water was also a sore point for residents of an area that has been hit by summer droughts for the past three years.

The local government still faces a separate legal battle over its plans to pump more water for use at the plant.

Under pressure from environmentalists, the authorities took care to examine the file closely, delaying the arrival of the planning permit.

The setbacks also gave Tesla the chance to modify its application, adding a massive yet-to-be-built battery factory next to the main factory.

Concerns about the construction were dismissed by Tesla’s rockstar CEO Musk, who sought to win over locals by hosting a nationwide fair on the factory grounds in October.

– Works Council –

If factory approval had not been given, the costs of dismantling the work already done would have fallen on Tesla.

Production at the factory is expected to begin almost immediately, with Tesla having already made a “limited” number of vehicles in a test run, a Tesla spokesman told AFP.

Tesla’s next challenge is finding workers, as German companies face skill shortages.

The employees of the factory saw to the organization of a works council, against the protests of the American manufacturer.

Shop floor organization is common to German industries and gives workers a degree of influence over company decision-making.

The works council elections, which took place at the end of February, were nevertheless won by the representatives of “Gigavoice”, closer to the management.

Currently, between 2,500 and 3,000 people work at the plant, according to union sources, mostly senior managers.

Eventually, employment at the multibillion-euro plant is expected to reach 12,000, according to local press, figures not confirmed by Tesla.

The opening of the factory represents a major step forward for the electric car maker, which will “ease Tesla’s production bottlenecks around the world” and increase deliveries, according to analysts at the company. Wedbush investment.

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