Tesla Giga Berlin Benefits Brandenburg & Germany a Lot, Says Local Officials

Photo: @gigafactory_4/Twitter

Tesla has selected Grünheide as the site for its European Gigafactory. Giga Berlin will create thousands of jobs and will be investing up to 4 billion euros in the project. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung management team views Tesla's impressive decision to build a factory here as an opportunity for Brandenburg, Berlin, and Germany as an automotive site.  

On February 18, 2021, the management of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, in cooperation with the Brandenburg State Chancellery, was invited to a panel discussion with Jörg Steinbach, Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Energy, Christoph Hahn, of IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony and Gundolf Schülke, CEO of IHK Ostbrandenburg. During the discussion, the significance of the Tesla settlement in Grünheide for the Brandenburg business district was discussed, and a number of important issues were reviewed: labor market, employee rights, economic structure, infrastructure, sustainability, and spatial planning.

Tesla's decision to build a Gigafactory in Grünheide is an important factor in the labor market. “This is the largest settlement in Brandenburg with up to 10,000 employees,” stressed Jörg Steinbach.

Brandenburg will require thousands of skilled workers. To attract them, more education and training will be needed. It is expected that some of the vacancies offered by Tesla will be occupied by people from other sectors or those who were laid off from jobs at large German automakers. In addition, large numbers of workers may come from the Berlin area as well as from neighboring Poland and Saxony. Christoph Hahn is convinced that, over time, the added value of collective agreements will be recognized and collective agreements will find their way into Tesla.

During the discussion, it became clear that Tesla benefits the region in many ways. The state government is already receiving more requests for projects than before the arrival of the California-based manufacturer here. Tax revenues from these businesses will benefit the region. Also, the new Tesla factory is being built in order to cover the global market, which in turn will have a positive effect on the export quota.

Tesla is also stimulating acceleration in the field of renewable energy sources. From a Grünheide sustainability perspective, Tesla will:

• support and accelerate the development of electromobility - opening up great opportunities for German car suppliers
• one of the largest photovoltaic systems will be installed on the roof of Giga Berlin
• expansion of charging stations for electric vehicles will progress faster, attracting more customers to purchase electric vehicles.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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