Tesla's (TSLA) Giga Berlin Hits Another Stumbling Block, November Start Now Very Unlikely

Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) hopes of starting EV production at its new plant in Berlin, Germany, hit a new stumble block today after the regional environment ministry said it has to repeat the citizen consultation process.

A new consultation process will start on November 02 and last for 20 days. It will be open to those citizens who objected to the Giga Berlin factory and were not satisfied with the response from Tesla or the environmental ministry.

Some citizens complained that they were not warned far enough in advance that the consultation would be digital. As a result, the consultation process will be repeated, meaning Tesla is now very unlikely to begin production in November.

"Since, in the absence of sample cases, it is difficult to assess which legal opinion the administrative courts in Brandenburg would adopt in the event of a lawsuit, the licensing authority decided to repeat the online consultation in the emissions control procedure for the vehicle factory for reasons of legal certainty," the ministry said.

During the company’s earnings call yesterday, CFO Zachary Kirkhorn addressed questions surrounding new plants in Texas and Berlin.

“It remains our target in both Austin and Berlin to be able to build our first production cars before the end of the year. You know, we've talked about this a bit, you know, the unknown unknowns, new factories, new vehicle designs, new technologies, new locations, new teams. So, you know, there is quite an execution journey ahead of us,” Kirkhorn told analysts on a call.

He added that Tesla “doesn’t expect to deliver cars by the end of 2021 from these new factories even if we do produce them -- so homologation, regulatory reasons.”

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