Tesla reports 26 environmental incidents in Berlin factory

The US electric car manufacturer Tesla has reported 26 environmental incidents at its so-called gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin since it opened a year and a half ago.

The incidents came to light in a report by German news outlet Stern in a report to be broadcast on Thursday evening, which cites the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment. The report was made available to dpa.

These include spilled substances such as paint and diesel, as well as fires.

According to the environmental agency of Brandenburg, the federal state that surrounds the German capital, the incidents are operational disturbances, not incidents in the sense of the the national major accidents ordinance. Part of the site is located in a water protection area.

Tesla rejects the concerns.

The car manufacturer admitted that there had been several incidents on the factory site during construction and since commissioning. None of the incidents was an incident under the Federal Ambient Pollution Control Act, and none caused environmental damage, according to the company. Corrective measures were implemented when necessary, Tesla said.

The head of ecosystems at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Martin Pusch, spoke of a fundamental danger with regard to drinking water.

"There is a high risk of drinking water supply being affected due to the low retention capacity of the subsoil," Pusch told dpa.

Brandenburg Environment Minister Axel Vogel admitted in response to a question from Stern that problems had arisen at the plant site but he did not see any danger.

Asked if he could rule out that the groundwater under the factory was contaminated, he told Stern: "I can rule it out. The monitoring is working."

The spills include 15,000 litres of paint, 13 tons of aluminium and 50 and 150 litres of diesel in two separate incidents.

According to information from the state environmental agency, the paint and aluminium were disposed of professionally or properly. In the case of the diesel, the soil was excavated in one case.

Stern also reported that after a fire in September 2020, up to 300 litres of extinguishing water seeped into the ground; in May 2023, 250 litres of diesel leaked from a petrol station on the site. The State Environmental Agency did not provide any information on this.

The April 2022 spill at the paint shop involving 15,000 litres of paint mixture was already known. At the time, the lower water authority of the Oder-Spree district classified the liquid as slightly hazardous to water but noted it had not entered the groundwater. The Strausberg-Erkner water board, however, spoke of an incident.

Since March 2022, there have also been eight fires. In one case, a fire at an illegal waste site in September 2022 was caused by a shredded battery in a wood transport box, according to the state environmental agency. Water was taken in to extinguish the fire and the affected unpaved area was excavated.

A few days later, cardboard and wood caught fire there. The extinguishing water had seeped into the ground, but the soil samples were unremarkable.

Tesla has been producing electric cars in Grünheide since March 2022. Environmentalists and conservationists see dangers because part of the factory is located in a water protection area. Tesla has rejected these concerns.

According to the latest information from the company, around 11,000 employees work at the factory in Grünheide, producing an estimated 250,000 vehicles a year. Tesla wants to expand the factory.