Tesla Gets Go-Ahead to Resume Clearing Trees for German Plant

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. has overcome a legal hurdle that threatened to delay Elon Musk’s plan to build his first electric-car factory in Germany.

A Brandenburg court on Thursday ruled that Tesla can resume cutting down trees at the site near Berlin, throwing out a complaint by two environmental groups claiming the U.S. company isn’t doing enough to protect local lizards and snakes.

The court found that the main populations of both species -- namely sand lizards and smooth snakes -- live outside the project area, and that the company took sufficient precautions to ensure their survival.

The decision is a boon to Tesla’s ambitious timetable to have the plant up and running by the middle of next year. The company plans to eventually produce as many as 500,000 cars annually at the site, posing a serious challenge to German rivals Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and BMW AG.

Tesla is clearing the land for stockpiling and the installation of pipelines needed for construction of the factory, local authorities said last month when approving the works.

The court earlier this week had halted Tesla’s logging of pine trees on the 83-hectare (205 acres) plot after the complaint was filed.

The environmental groups can appeal the ruling. The case is: VG 5 L 602/20.

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