Tesla’s German Factory Faces New Snag After Court Halts Logging

  • Court orders temporary halt over species protection demands
  • Tesla seeks July 2021 start of German electric car production

The Tesla Inc. factory site near Berlin. 

Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Tesla Inc. was ordered by a local court to halt tree clearance for its new factory near Berlin following complaints from two environmental groups, potentially disrupting progress in completing the company’s first European gigafactory.

In a temporary injunction, the court in Frankfurt-Oder on Dec. 7 ordered a stop to logging on a 205 acre pine forest section of the site after a lawsuit brought by the Nabu and Gruena Liga ecology groups. The lobbies claim that Tesla’s efforts to save protected lizard and snake species before logging were inadequate.