soak up the sun, coaxing the animals
out as they searched for warmth.
After 28 days of work, the team of
four trackers caught just 17 lizards
and 14 snakes.
Dozens are still hiding. “We don’t
know how many are still there,”
Frayer says. “We will have to con-
tinue in the spring.”
By then, Musk says, the factory
will be almost ready to roll out its
first German Teslas—engaging in
its own high-stakes battle against
the country’s cherished auto indus-
try. German automakers, including
BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen,
together produce about 5 million
vehicles a year and hire more than
800,000 people, representing the
country’s single biggest industry.
Taking on that entrenched power-
house will not be easy, even for Musk.
So far, Tesla has benefited from the
slowness of German competitors to
electrify their fleets en masse. But in
2020, Volkswagen finally sold more
battery-powered vehicles in Europe
than its upstart competitor. While
Tesla’s software capabilities remain
superior, the Germans have spent de-
cades building out giant factories and
delivery systems, which Tesla is now
creating there from scratch. What’s
more, the old-style automakers are
under increasing EU pressure to shift
away from fossil fuel. “Tesla did a ter-
rific job entering the EU market, but
it was against an empty playing field,”says Matthias Schmidt, an industry
analyst in Berlin. “Now they have
much greater competition.”
Musk insists he is delighted by the
growing rivalry. “The mission of Tesla
is and always has been to accelerate
sustainable energy,” he says. Even
so, to maintain its position as the
world’s leading electric-car maker
(now controlling about 18% of the
global market), Tesla will need to win
in Europe. Musk believes that long-
term success requires a stronghold in
North America, China, and Europe.
Without all three, he says, “you simply
cannot achieve economies of scale.”
Also ahead are likely battles with
the powerful auto unions. Under
German law, union officials occupy
seats on auto companies’ supervi-
sory boards—a jolting contrast from
the U.S., where Tesla has fought off
workers’ attempts to unionize.
Musk seems reluctant to change his
stance at Giga Berlin. He says workers
would want to unionize “only if we are
doing something wrong and I am notproperly seeing to their needs.” Birgit
Dietze, Brandenburg director for the
IG Metall industrial union, which has
2.4 million members, says she expects
Tesla to abide by Germany’s labor
laws, including a minimum of 24
vacation days a year and guaranteed
overtime pay.
For all that, Musk sees a key op-
portunity in the EU’s single market of
about 450 million people. He says he
will also open a car-design center in
Berlin, tapping into the country’s deep
experience. “The best cars are made
in Germany. Everyone knows that,” he
told the Berlin audience that night in- He went on to recall the skepti-
cism when Tesla launched in 2003 as
the world’s first maker of all-electric
cars. “Everyone thought we were huge
fools,” he said, laughing. “I thought we
were fools too, frankly.”
Today, no one is laughing. Begin-
ning this summer, sleepy Grünheide
will bring another huge expansion to
Tesla. Less clear is whether the lizards
and snakes will fare as well.
“TESLA ENTERED THE EU AGAINSTAN EMPTY PLAYING FIELD. NOWTHE COMPANY HAS COMPETITION.
”TITLE — CATEGORYPATRICK PLEUL—PICTURE ALLIANCE/GETTY IMAGES