What does Tesla's car factory in Grünheide need so much water for?

In Tesla's “Gigafactory” in Grünheide, 372,000 liters per hour are to be used. This causes unrest in the region. Other car manufacturers are more economical.
Not far from the “loveliest valley in the Mark”, as Theodor Fontane called the Löcknitztal, the excavators will soon roll. The almost 500 hectare nature reserve borders on the area on which Tesla wants to build his electric car factory. The area is rich in water, the valley, which the river Löcknitz gives its name to, is bordered by several lakes in the north and the Müggel-Spree in the south.

Around two thirds of the Tesla area is also in a water protection area. In the protection zone 3B, the US automaker must observe special requirements. Tesla is under special observation, because the car factory will need water - lots of water.

With 372,000 liters per hour, Tesla states consumption in its application documents. A huge number that makes conservationists and residents fear that the car factory could not only dig the water from flora and fauna, but also attack the region's drinking water reserves. On Saturday, 120 opponents from the Tesla plant in Grünheide took to the streets again.

Tesla needs 18.2 million cubic meters of water a year
According to the Water Association Strausberg-Erkner (WSE), 372 cubic meters of water per hour corresponds to the annual per capita need of 71,500 people. Extrapolated for the year 2021, if the Tesla factory is to start production, according to WSE, 18.2 million cubic meters of water would have to be pumped each year. 10.9 million are currently permitted.
Because Tesla wants to be fast and time is of the essence, the WSE is now exerting political pressure. Additional production volumes would have to be approved, it is said, and investments should be made in the expansion of the waterworks and sewage pipes. Otherwise, the water might actually become scarce when Tesla produces.

But what does Tesla need so much water for? In its 246-page report on the likely environmental impact (EIA report) of the car production, the company states that water is required for various processes: in the foundry, the paint shop, the battery production, the final assembly, for the cooling towers and for the sanitary facilities and for cleaning purposes. There is also a need for extinguishing water for possible fire cases
A lot comes together. Assuming that the "Gigafactory" works after full commissioning in three shifts around the clock on 250 days a year, the water requirement is a good 2.2 million cubic meters per year.

For comparison: The VW plant in Zwickau, in which the electric ID.3 and other E models are to be built in the future, needed 350,000 cubic meters of water with the same capacity. The BMW plant in Leipzig, which produces the electric i3, among other things, used up to 250,000 cubic meters of water a year on somewhat fewer working days (237). According to this calculation, Tesla would use almost ten times as much water as its German competitor BMW.

Climate change requires more water
The US company does little better if you calculate the demand per car. If Tesla builds 500,000 Model Y and Model 3 in the Grünheider factory as planned, 4.4 cubic meters of water would be used per vehicle. VW produces 300,000 cars in Zwickau and comes to almost 1.2 cubic meters per car. BMW consumes 1.1 cubic meters in Leipzig with an annual production of 250,000 vehicles.

Water is used in all car factories, for example, to cool machines or welding robots. "Climate change is also making itself felt here," says a BMW spokesman. In the last hot summers with extreme temperatures, more cooling was necessary, especially in production areas where constant humidity and temperature are used. Water is also consumed when leak tests are carried out in irrigation systems. The vehicles are also washed and the interior cleaned before delivery.

"But three quarters of the water is used in the paint shop," says a BMW spokesman. Here, in particular, manufacturers are endeavoring to reduce the use of resources with new processes. When spraying, a lot of paint does not land on the body ("overspray"). Instead, the particles sink into water channels that run beneath the system. The paint sludge collected there is separated and reused

Water as a critical resource
In the future, BMW will use cardboard boxes instead of water to collect the excess paint particles. A large part of the 300 million euros that the manufacturer has invested in the expansion of its Leipzig plant will be used to modernize the paint shop. The new system will go into series production in May.

Water is a critical resource for car makers. In the “Global Water Report” of the organization CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), three-quarters of all companies state that the availability of water represents a substantial risk for their own activities or that of the suppliers. Car manufacturers handle water with due care and document this in their environmental and sustainability reports.

Elon Musk wants to "clarify a few things"
For this, CDP distributes grades every year. The top grade “A” was given to Volkswagen, Ford, GM, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai in 2019. BMW came up with an "A-". CDP rated Daimler and Tesla with an “F”. Both carmakers had published too little information about their use of water to be assessed.

The Brandenburg government takes the concerns of the population that Tesla is wasteful with the resource very seriously. "However, Tesla stated in its application a maximum requirement to have a buffer," says the Ministry of Environment, for example. “The average water consumption will definitely be lower.
Tesla boss Elon Musk also tried to dispel Brandenburg's concerns. "Sounds like we need to sort out a few things," he tweeted at the end of January. Tesla would not use as much water every day. "This may be a rare case of peak usage, but nothing that happens every day."