As Tesla gets its Shanghai Gigafactory up and running after a temporary shutdown earlier this month due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, the company is having to put the brakes on the start of its first such factory in Europe.
A German court ruled over the weekend that Tesla has to temporarily halt work on clearing forests in an area near Berlin, where the company intends to build a Gigafactory that will begin producing vehicles in 2021. The court issued the work stoppage after receiving complaints from a local environmental group about how the plant could negatively impact the area’s drinking water.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced in November plans to build the new Gigafactory near Berlin. The company is reportedly going to put more than $4 billion into construction of the facility
Dirk Tessmer, a lawyer representing the German environmental group Green League, said in a statement in addition to possibly affecting the area’s water supply, there are concerns about how the Tesla facility would impact transportation on the region’s highways and rail lines.
Tesla didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the matter. In addition to its Shanghai facility, the company currently operates Gigafactories in Sparks, Nevada, and Buffalo, New York, where it builds vehicle batteries and solar power panels and equipment.
