After increasing uproar and protests near Tesla factory site, Musk tries to alleviate environmental concerns regarding under-construction Gigafactory in Brandenburg, Germany by saying that the water consumption would be much less than originally anticipated.
The U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer originally disclosed in its planning documents that the factory would need 372 cubic meters (about 100,000 gallon) of drinking water per hour from local community’s main water supply, which made some local residents angry and a protest was demonstrated about a week ago.
In a tweet from his personal account, Musk said that “Tesla won’t use this much net water on a daily basis. It’s possibly a rare peak usage case, but not an everyday event.”
He also tried to alleviate the concerns regarding loss of trees at the construction site by saying that “this is not a natural forest — it was planted for use as cardboard & only a small part will be used for GF4.”
Tesla’s new factory codenamed Gigafactory 4 was first announced by Elon Musk at Das Goldene Lenkrad award show in Berlin. The under-construction assembly plant location is in Grünheide, near Berlin. The company plans to produce batteries and powertrains for use in Tesla vehicles.
German politicians have feted the move in hopes of creating new jobs for local community and supplementing the ailing economy, but the environmental activists have raised concerns. Additionally, Brandenburg water association has given a warning against overuse of drinking water and issues with wastewater disposal at the plant.
According to local environmental agency publication, the Gigafactory 4 will start operations in July 2021 with a yearly production capacity of 100,000 vehicles or more.
