Musk: Tyskland bästa alternativet för batterifabrik

Tesla Gigafactory Europe is a proposed manufacturing plant for Tesla, Inc. to be located in Europe. As of the June 2018 Tesla shareholders meeting, the location is not yet decided on. It is to be a combined electric battery manufacturing facility and automobile factory. In 2016, Tesla was anticipating to announce the factory in 2017. The factory was previously referred to as Gigafactory 2 until 22 February 2017, when Tesla began to refer to the SolarCity Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York as Gigafactory 2. The Europe Gigafactory will be named either Gigafactory 3, 4, or 5. Reported locations said to be under consideration are Czech Republic near Prague, with a nearby 330 kilotonne lithium deposit, Portugal, with Europe's biggest lithium reserves and one of the biggest solar centers in the world, Poland and Hungary. Although Germany's then-Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel has stated that Tesla is in talks with the government over a Gigafactory there, a Tesla spokesperson said in January that the company has no current plan for a battery factory in Germany. Several countries have campaigned to have the factory located within their jurisdictions. In April 2016, France suggested turning the soon to be shuttered Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant into Gigafactory 2, supported by two ministers. The Netherlands' minister of Economy Henk Kamp announced plans to attract Tesla later in 2016, and has campaigned for the plant at several locations. They promote the idea of synergy with the European headquarters of Tesla, already located in the Netherlands, as is a finishing plant. Portugal has pursued the plant with an internet campaign and governmental negotiations. Portugal has the largest lithium reserves in Europe. Paterna, Spain is also in pursuit of being selected. Finland's city of Vaasa also announced a government supported initiative to attract the factory, citing both nearby lithium carbonate deposits, the world largest cobalt refinery and an annual 50 kilotonne nickel production. Lithuania drew the attention of Tesla in January 2017 when the local gaming community united to recreate the potential Gigafactory in the virtual world of Minecraft. CEO of Tesla Elon Musk mentioned the project in his personal Twitter account. The Estonian government is also pursuing to win over the deal, claiming a good geographical and logistical location, plus 140 MW renewable energy with total control over the pricing for the factory in PAKRI Smart Industrial City at Pakri Peninsula. See www.teslacountry.com There is intense competition among European countries to host the Gigafactory because of its significant contribution to the local economy. The sprawling facility, which is going to be one of the largest manufacturing lines in Europe, is expected to need a considerable number of employees despite its automated process. Also, there is a concerted effort in the region to encourage battery manufacturing since it is viewed as a strategic economic measure due to an increasing global transition towards renewable energy. A recent report revealed, for instance, that the world will need at least 25 more gigafactories by 2025. The projected uptick in demand for electric cars and in-home power storage systems is causing concern about a European fuel dependency on Asia, which currently accounts for 88 percent of global battery manufacturing capacity. European governments are now providing subsidies and incentives to companies like Tesla as well as local battery manufacturing startups like Northvolt and TerraE to build production infrastructure within its borders. According to Matthias Machnig, state secretary at the German economy ministry said: We are in the center of the biggest and deepest change in the automotive industry since its beginning. We would be naive to think we can handle battery technology as a commodity that can be bought anywhere in the world.