It sounded almost like a joke initially: An American high-tech car company with a volatile boss meets German environmental law, citizen participation and German bureaucracy. Now, though, it looks as though electric cars could start rolling off the assembly line in Grünheide even faster than they did in centrally steered China.
Somehow, the clichés didn't hold true. Tesla may be a tenacious, demanding company, but it also takes criticism seriously and tries to address it. In contrast to German companies, Musk uses every possibility that planning law avails him to accelerate construction, but he does so at his own risk.
To prevent jeopardizing its ambitious deadlines, Tesla is pressing ahead with construction using preliminary permits for individual steps. The first one was obtained by the company for felling the trees, the second for levelling the site, and construction crews are now working with a fifth preliminary permit. This would allow the factory to be completed before final approval is given.
It is a process that anyone can follow, but no one has used the instrument as forcefully as Tesla. The risk is that the company might have to tear it all down again if regulatory approval isn't granted, but it's also a calculable risk because the authorities in question only issue the prelimary permit under the assumption that their final decision will be a positive one.
Not a German, but my read is that the German Government badly wants this factory to be a success so Germany can get a toehold and not be left behind by the change to EVs over the next couple of decades. When you take into account how much effort Germany puts into babying their auto industry in general, it's not surprising that Tesla would be allowed to move faster than your typical company.
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[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 7.2 ms ] threadIt sounded almost like a joke initially: An American high-tech car company with a volatile boss meets German environmental law, citizen participation and German bureaucracy. Now, though, it looks as though electric cars could start rolling off the assembly line in Grünheide even faster than they did in centrally steered China.
Somehow, the clichés didn't hold true. Tesla may be a tenacious, demanding company, but it also takes criticism seriously and tries to address it. In contrast to German companies, Musk uses every possibility that planning law avails him to accelerate construction, but he does so at his own risk.
To prevent jeopardizing its ambitious deadlines, Tesla is pressing ahead with construction using preliminary permits for individual steps. The first one was obtained by the company for felling the trees, the second for levelling the site, and construction crews are now working with a fifth preliminary permit. This would allow the factory to be completed before final approval is given.
It is a process that anyone can follow, but no one has used the instrument as forcefully as Tesla. The risk is that the company might have to tear it all down again if regulatory approval isn't granted, but it's also a calculable risk because the authorities in question only issue the prelimary permit under the assumption that their final decision will be a positive one.
Interesting.