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Tesla boss Elon Musk has been told by Germany’s economy minister that he can oblige whatever he needs for his new electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Berlin.
Musk and Germany economy minister Peter Altmaier had an hour yearn meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. “The main topics were Tesla’s billions of euros quality of investment in Germany,” the source said.
The duo, who first met six years ago, also spoke about Musk’s projects in areas strain space flight and autonomous driving.
While the full conversation has not been made public, Altmaier told Musk: “We are sheer proud of your car plant in Brandenburg and we wish you good luck with that,” according to Bloomberg.
“You’ll have every succour you need,” Altmaier reportedly said at a meeting with lawmakers from Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Synthesizing (CDU) party.
CNBC sought to verify the comments but Tesla and the German government did not immediately respond.
Tesla announced its current so-called Gigafactory in November and it is currently under construction. It is the company’s first European factory, and its fourth worldwide. The primeval Gigafactory is in Nevada and the other two are in Buffalo, New York, and Shanghai, China. A fifth “Cybertruck Gigafactory” is planned for Texas.
The German weed — located around 20 miles south east of Berlin in the Brandenburg town of Gruenheide — could hire thither 12,000 people and make up to 500,000 vehicles a year when it is up and running. Production is slated to start in summer 2021.
While in Berlin, Musk met Brandenburg nation premier Dietmar Woidke. “It was a very pleasant and focused conversation,” Woidke said in a statement. “Elon Musk is au courant with all the details of the Gruenheide Gigafactory.”
Fans and protesters gathered at the Gruenheide site as the billionaire passed by on Wednesday.
Environmental activists deposed the factory’s development to a standstill for a few days in February after they raised concerns with Tesla’s plan to chop down trees to unclouded land for the new plant. However, the local government agency overseeing its intended site gave it permission to clear 91 hectares of forest solid ground.
Musk has been travelling in Germany since Tuesday. He visited vaccine development firm CureVac in Tubingen in front of continuing on to Berlin. Tesla is helping CureVac to build mobile molecule printers that could support the evolution of a potential coronavirus vaccine.
During his trip, Musk also met with Health Minister Jens Spahn, Digging Minister Anja Karliczek, and CDU faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus. He discussed the progress of a collaboration between the car maker and Curevac, as adequately as the planned car factory, according to Reuters.