Tesla gets green light from German authorities for first stage of plant expansion

(Reuters) - Tesla came one step closer to achieving its planned doubling of capacity at its plant near Berlin on Tuesday when the local environment ministry granted approval for it to build another large hall.

The approval granted permission for the carmaker to proceed with the first of three stages of the expansion, including construction of infrastructure for storage facilities, a battery cell test laboratory, and logistics areas.

All the 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 since 2022, from 500,000 vehicles per year to 1 million, which would make it the biggest car plant in the country - topping Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters.

Activists living in treehouses in the woods near the plant have been camping out for over half a year to protest against the expansion, and earlier this year local citizens voted against a motion to fell trees and make way for the larger site, though their vote was not binding.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

The carmaker's application for approval to expand the site, handed in in July 2023, had said the first set of changes should become operational in the first half of 2024.

However, the plant's director, Andre Thierig, told German media in August that the company was waiting to invest until it was clear that demand for EVs, which has weakened in Europe, would pick back up.

The company reported a smaller-than-expected rise in third-quarter deliveries earlier this month as incentives and financing deals failed to lure enough customers for its aging electric vehicles, putting it at risk of its first-ever annual deliveries decline after years of rapid growth.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)