The town of Grünheide, located near the German capital Berlin, announced a reduction in Tesla’s plans for a major expansion of its electric car factory there.

The mayor of Grünheide, Arne Christiani, proposed preserving nearly 50 hectares of forest and reducing the expansion. He added that the municipality's administration takes into account the wishes of the citizens with this proposal.

On Thursday, the municipality submitted proposals for a new version of the development plan. The revised plan, which was published on the Grünheide town website, still needs to be publicly presented before the town representatives can vote on it.

Tesla announced on Thursday evening that it has made this change possible by postponing some aspects of the development.

It continued that it is focusing on storage areas as well as additional facilities related to production and necessary for climate-neutral logistics services at the factory.

It is noted that Tesla employs about 12,000 people in the area, which was hoping to attract investment, but there were also concerns about Tesla’s environmental and labor policies.

Tesla denied allegations of causing environmental damage, especially since the factory is equipped to preserve the environment and against those allegations.