German government ready to support 'very important' Tesla battery factory
The German government has assured US automaker Tesla that it will make financial support available for battery production at its new factory near Berlin, Dietmar Neuerer聽聽in financial daily Handelsblatt. "We are ready to support this investment on the part of the state, as is the case with other companies that invest in this area," Germany's economy minister Peter Altmaier said, describing the project as 鈥渧ery important.鈥� He added: 鈥淭his is part of our success story because it also brings research and development to Germany." Altmaier said there would be "as few bureaucratic obstacles as possible and as few delays as possible.鈥�
Altmaier鈥檚 assurances followed complaints by the US carmaker about Germany鈥檚 bureaucratic red tape.聽Tesla has been critical聽of the slow approval processes for its plant 16 months after the company filed its application. The factory, located in Gr眉nheide, is nearly finished and is expected to begin operation in July. Altmaier's ministry supports large-scale battery cell innovation projects that are implemented at the EU level as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI). The European Commission in January聽, granting funding to 42 companies from 12 member states, including 11 projects in Germany, among them the Tesla plant. The Gigafactory is聽expected to accelerate the shift聽to electric cars in Germany and Europe.
