News
Tesla finds target area for Giga Berlin's tree replanting initiatives
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s promise to replant three times as many trees as his company will remove in Germany is starting to take shape. Tesla has reportedly found the areas where it will plant trees to replace those that are cut down for the construction of Giga Berlin in Grünheide, Germany.
The company will replant trees in many different areas, but the largest spaces of land where the replanting will be held have reportedly been selected. According to the Brandenburg Area Agency and rbb24, these areas are Brandenburg an der Havel (located 64 miles of Giga Berlin), Baruth/Mark (located 41.6 miles from Grünheide) and Bad Saarow (located 20.8 miles from the Giga Berlin site).
Half of the trees that Tesla will plant must be deciduous, according to local agencies. They want to focus on trees that have more value environmentally. This is different from the pine trees currently inhabiting the Giga Berlin complex, which are intended to be used for commercial cardboard production.
The Brandenburg Area Agency requested the replacement trees be spread over the Brandenburg region instead of one concentrated area. Tesla obliged.
Tesla began removing trees from the 90 hectares of land on January 6. The process was met with some speed bumps, however. Not only was the company required to have the first tree removal phase completed by February 27 due to the bird breeding season that takes place in early March, but its presence was met with protests from some local residents as well.
After clarifying some of the concerns that the construction of Giga Berlin would have on the land and local citizens, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated the company would be positively impacting the environment. “Giga Berlin will build sustainable energy vehicles using sustainable energy, so net environmental impact will be extremely positive,” he said on Twitter.
For sure. Giga Berlin will build sustainable energy vehicles using sustainable energy, so net environmental impact will be extremely positive!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2020
Interestingly enough, Conservation Officer Axel Heinzel-Berndt stated that the automaker would have a tough time finding sufficient or appropriate land to replace the trees they would have to cut down.
“It will be difficult to find arable land on this scale. But it is also conceivable that, instead, species-poor pine forest is converted into mixed forest,’ he said in an interview with taz.de. This issue has evidently been cleared up and will no longer be a worry to local environmentalists.
The German Forest Protection Association has also given Tesla their approval. They believe that the removal of the pine forest may actually be a good thing because Tesla has offered the “correct compensation” with trees that are better suited for sustainability and positive environmental impact in the long run.
News
Tesla Giga Berlin dispute against IG Metall union leads to investigation
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon.
German authorities have opened an investigation into an IG Metall union representative following allegations that a confidential works council meeting at Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin was secretly recorded. The probe follows a criminal complaint filed by Tesla management last week.
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors in Frankfurt (Oder) confirmed that an investigation is underway into a possible unauthorized audio recording of an internal works council meeting.
Under German law, recording a non-public meeting without consent may constitute a criminal offense.
Tesla stated that Gigafactory Berlin employees alerted management after allegedly discovering that an external union representative, who was attending the event as a guest, had recorded the session. Plant manager André Thierig stated in a post on X that the representative was “caught in action,” prompting the company to contact police and file a criminal complaint.
The seized device is now part of the investigation, and authorities will determine whether any unlawful recording had indeed occurred.
IG Metall has denied the accusation. In comments to German media, representatives rejected Tesla’s claim and described the electric vehicle maker’s allegation as an election campaign tactic ahead of upcoming works council elections.
The election at Tesla’s Grünheide plant is scheduled for March 2–4, 2026, with about 11,000 employees being eligible to vote. Regular works council elections in Germany are held every four years between March and May.
The incident comes amid tensions between Tesla and organized labor in Germany. While works councils operate independently from unions, IG Metall has been active at the plant and has previously criticized Tesla’s labor practices. Authorities, for their part, have not yet announced whether charges will be filed, though the investigation remains ongoing.
News
Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain.
Tesla is rolling out Grok to vehicles in Europe. The feature will initially launch in nine European territories.
In a post on X, the official Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa account confirmed that Grok is coming to Teslas in Europe. The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain, and additional markets are expected to be added later.
Grok allows drivers to ask questions using real-time information and interact hands-free while driving. According to Tesla’s support documentation, Grok can also initiate navigation commands, enabling users to search for destinations, discover points of interest, and adjust routes without touching the touchscreen, as per the feature’s official webpage.
The system offers selectable personalities, ranging from “Storyteller” to “Unhinged,” and is activated either through the App Launcher or by pressing and holding the steering wheel’s microphone button.
Grok is currently available only on Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck vehicles equipped with an AMD infotainment processor. Vehicles must be running software version 2025.26 or later, with navigation command support requiring version 2025.44.25 or newer.
Drivers must also have Premium Connectivity or a stable Wi-Fi connection to use the feature. Tesla notes that Grok does not currently replace standard voice commands for vehicle controls such as climate or media adjustments.
The company has stated that Grok interactions are processed securely by xAI and are not linked to individual drivers or vehicles. Users do not need a Grok account or subscription to enable the feature at this time as well.
News
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that was announced for the United States market in January by CEO Elon Musk.
The driver assistance suite is now exclusively available in the U.S. as a subscription, which is currently priced at $99 per month.
Tesla moved away from the outright purchase option in an effort to move more people to the subscription program, but there are concerns over its current price and the potential for it to rise.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Although Tesla moved back the deadline in other countries, it has now taken effect in the U.S. on Sunday morning. Tesla updated its website to reflect this:
🚨 Tesla has officially moved the outright purchase option for FSD on its website pic.twitter.com/RZt1oIevB3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 15, 2026
There are still some concerns regarding its price, as $99 per month is not where many consumers are hoping to see the subscription price stay.
Musk has said that as capabilities improve, the price will go up, but it seems unlikely that 10 million drivers will want to pay an extra $100 every month for the capability, even if it is extremely useful.
Instead, many owners and fans of the company are calling for Tesla to offer a different type of pricing platform. This includes a tiered-system that would let owners pick and choose the features they would want for varying prices, or even a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual pricing option, which would incentivize longer-term purchasing.
Although Musk and other Tesla are aware of FSD’s capabilities and state is is worth much more than its current price, there could be some merit in the idea of offering a price for Supervised FSD and another price for Unsupervised FSD when it becomes available.
Tesla Giga Berlin dispute against IG Metall union leads to investigation
Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
