Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, which is also set to be one of the biggest and fastest-growing electric vehicle (EV) markets in the world, could be the ideal location for Tesla’s Gigafactory in Europe, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
Germany is the “logical choice” for the first manufacturing factory of the U.S. EV maker in Europe, Adam Jonas and other analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a note on Thursday, as carried by Bloomberg.
Germany “is the heart of the global luxury-auto market, with an economy dependent on internal-combustion tech and a government focused on climate change,” according to Morgan Stanley.
Just days ago, Germany raised by 50 percent the incentives for buyers of EVs, as part of the government’s Climate Protection Program 2030. The vast auto market in Germany is expected to be a huge electric car market in the future, although consumer preferences in the country that is home to many legacy carmakers could be difficult to change.
Morgan Stanley sees German EV sales at 6.5 million cars a year by 2030, second only to China.
A “Giga Deutschland” manufacturing site would also benefit Tesla because the U.S. manufacturer will be part of Europe’s biggest economy, Morgan Stanley’s Jonas says.
Building the European Gigafactory in Germany is not a new idea. Elon Musk himself said in June last year that Germany is a leading choice for a possible future Tesla Gigafactory in Europe.
Germany is a leading choice for Europe. Perhaps on the German-French border makes sense, near the Benelux countries,” Musk said on Twitter in June 2018, while in April this year he said that Tesla was “considering” building a factory in Germany.
In August, German daily Rheinische Post reported that Tesla was looking for a location for a possible factory site in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders Belgium and the Netherlands.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com