Tesla has promised to plant double the number of trees that it will remove as part of the deforestation effort to build Gigafactory Mexico.
There are a lot of eyes on a piece of land spanning 4,200 acres just outside of Monterrey since Tesla confirmed its plan to build a gigafactory there.
Not much is known about the plant yet, as information has only been slowly released through Tesla and government officials. The massive size of the piece of land secured by Tesla was confirmed; it is twice as big as the land Tesla acquired for Gigafactory Texas.
The government confirmed that Tesla plans to spend about $5 billion to build the factory, which is going to employ 7,000 people directly and much more indirectly.
We also have a better idea of Tesla’s timeline for the factory. Tom Zhu, Tesla’s head of automotive and the person in charge of gigafactories, added that his team plans to build the factory at a record pace like Gigafactory Shanghai, which went from breaking ground to production in about nine months.
But Tesla first needs the permit to proceed and there have been indications that it could be issued as soon as this month.
Like with other Tesla gigafactory projects, it is expected that there could be some pushback from an environmental perspective, mainly due to the area’s deforestation needed to build.
This has been an issue for Tesla at Gigafactory Berlin and slowed down the process.
Top comment by JM
So I'm working with the translated text as listed above: "Tesla will arrive by setting an example. I spoke with its director and he guaranteed me that they will reforest the area of Santa Catarina, where the gigafactory will be installed, with double the number of trees required by law on 1,600 hectares of land."
What is the number required by law? The headline makes it seem like they will double the number of trees they are cutting down, but obviously that was not what stated (unless I'm missing some other number outside the quote).
This is a nice first step, but this sort of seems like this is Tesla throwing a bone to environmentalist rather than actually preserving the environment. I know certain sacrifices must be made to make overall improvements in the quest of sustainability and preservation, but unless the law is written in a way that has a meaningful number of trees (and the law makes native trees to the area a priority) then we could be left with sterile ornamental trees that provide little to none of the benefits that an actual native habitat provides. I just hope the Mexican government isn't missing the forest for the trees.
But it looks like Tesla is being proactive with Gigafactory Mexico as Samuel García, Governor of Nuevo Leon, announced that Tesla told him it has a strong reforestation plan:
Here’s the tweet’s translation:
Tesla will arrive by setting an example. I spoke with its director and he guaranteed me that they will reforest the area of Santa Catarina, where the gigafactory will be installed, with double the number of trees required by law on 1,600 hectares of land.
This should go a long way in appeasing concerns with the deforestation that is going to be required to build Gigafactory Mexico.
There’s no new information about the timing for the permit, but it’s clear Tesla is ready to move fast.
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