A Tesla Model X stands in front of a sales shop and service center of the manufacturer of electric vehicles, Tesla. (picture alliance/dpa)
Tesla published a slew of environmental measures on Wednesday that the U.S. electric car manufacturer plans for its new factory site in Germany.
The list includes hanging up around 400 nesting boxes for birds, relocating anthills and lizards and planting three times the number of trees that the company cuts down.
After initial excitement about Tesla's plans to build the so-called Gigafactory in the small town of Gruenheide, in the state of Brandenburg just to the east of Berlin, environmentalists became concerned.
The land there was initially earmarked for a BMW plant but over the past two decades, plants and animals have proliferated at the site. Environmental protection groups called on the company to assess the land carefully before clearing it for construction.
Tesla said it had inspected the trees on the site to see whether they were housing any endangered bats who could be hibernating. The company found two trees where bats were living: one where a dwarf or mosquito bat was living in a tree hollow, and another tree hollow housing a noctule bat. Both trees will not be cut down for the time being.
Sand lizards, which usually leave their winter homes in springtime, are to be caught and resettled, under the company's environmental plans.
The Silicon Valley giant, run by celebrity entrepreneur Elon Musk, plans to produce up to 500,000 units annually of its Model 3 and Y vehicles and future models at the Gigafactory, beginning in July 2021.
However, it already looks as though the company will only be able to clear part of the area before the breeding season for birds in the forest starts in March.
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