(Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ ) moved a step closer to achieving its planned doubling of capacity at its plant near Berlin on Tuesday when the local Environment Ministry granted it approval to build another large facility.
The approval granted the automaker permission to proceed with the first of three stages of the expansion, including building infrastructure for storage facilities, a battery cell testing lab and logistics areas.
All approved construction would take place on land already owned by the company, the ministry said.
Tesla has faced fierce local resistance to its plans to increase the capacity of its plant, operational from 2022, from 500,000 vehicles a year to 1 million, which would make it the largest auto plant in the country, surpassing the from Volkswagen (ETR:). Wolfsburg headquarters.
Activists living in tree houses in the woods near the plant have been camping out for more than half a year to protest the expansion, and earlier this year local citizens voted against a motion to cut down trees to make way to a larger site, although their vote was non-binding.
Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
The automaker's application for approval to expand the site, submitted in July 2023, said the first set of changes should come online in the first half of 2024.
However, plant director Andre Thierig told German media in August that the company was waiting to invest until it was clear that demand for electric vehicles, which had weakened in Europe, would recover again.
The company earlier this month reported a smaller-than-expected increase in third-quarter deliveries as incentives and financing deals failed to attract enough customers for its aging electric vehicles, putting it at risk of its first annual drop in deliveries after years of rapid growth.
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