Tesla Giga Berlin Faces Further Delay Owing To Regulatory Procedures

A regional environmental ministry in Germany will conduct a repeat online consultation with local citizens to review objections to Tesla Inc’s TSLA Berlin manufacturing facility, Reuters reported on Thursday.

What Happened: The repeat consultation will run from Nov. 2 to Nov. 22 and is open to those who expressed an objection in previous public consultation rounds but were not satisfied with the response from Tesla or the environmental ministry, as per Reuters.

The agency is carrying out some consultations again to address concerns that the earlier process did not comply with regulations. There were also concerns that citizens were not given enough information that the consultation would be digital. Objections submitted in the previous round will still be valid.

See Also: Tesla Plans To Roll Out First Cars From Berlin Next Month, Elon Musk Warns Of Volume-Production Challenges

Why It Matters: The fresh consultation could further delay the production start at the Gigafactory Berlin. Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said the electric automaker planned to start rolling off cars from the production lines at its new Giga Berlin in November.

Musk had during a site visit said that achieving volume production at the Berlin factory would take much longer than it took to build the factory.

A Tesla spokesperson told Reuters that the company is aiming to begin producing cars before the end of the year and then ramp up as quickly as possible. 

Musk has previously blamed German bureaucracy for the delay in starting production at the Berlin Gigafactory.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 3.26% higher at $894 a share on Thursday.