Robert Habeck, Germany Economy Minister, has issued a statement relating to reports of Tesla’s supposed updates to its Giga Berlin battery plans. According to the official, he has no information on any changes that Tesla intends to implement in its Germany-based electric vehicle factory.
The Minister’s statement came amidst reports that a vote for Tesla’s plans to expand Giga Berlin has been put on the back burner, at least for the time being. Grünheide Mayor Arne Christiani noted that he could not really estimate if a vote on Tesla’s planned Giga Berlin expansion could be held later this year.
That being said, Habeck’s statement was more of a response to a report from The Wall Street Journal, which claimed that Tesla is pausing its plans to produce battery cells in Germany. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal noted that Tesla is looking to focus on pushing its battery production efforts in the United States instead.
When asked if he had any indication that Tesla was updating its Giga Berlin battery plans, the Minister was clear. “No, I don’t have,” he said, adding that he had been quite focused on the issue of Ukraine.
“So I haven’t really looked into that. But as you know and maybe remember, Tesla said they didn’t want to have state aid, so in a way this is private business. I have no deeper information right now,” Habeck added, according to a Reuters report.
Tesla has not issued a comment about the matter so far. However, recent reports from German news outlet B.Z. have noted that Tesla is still looking to start the production of its 4680 battery cells in the Giga Berlin complex around the first quarter of 2023. The publication also noted that the production of electric motors at Giga Berlin is expected to start as early as later this year.
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