Many people who purchase electric vehicles do so for environmental reasons. But they may not be so keen on having an EV manufacturing site near their home.
Yesterday, Tesla rival Rivian announced that it is halting plans to build a $5 billion factory in Georgia. Instead, it will produce its upcoming R2 and R3 models at its existing plant in Illinois, saving it more than $2.25 billion in capital expenditures.
While politicians who lured Rivian with tax incentives may be disappointed – the company has pledged to create 7,500 jobs by the end of 2028 – some Georgia residents who live near the planned facility have breathed a sigh of relief, at least for Now.
Among them was JoEllen Artz, who spoke with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after Rivian’s announcement. He leads a group that opposes the electric vehicle maker’s plans, citing the potential impact on local water supplies. The site is located in a groundwater recharge area where many residents rely on private wells.
“Our water is more important than anyone else’s electric vehicle,” Artz told the newspaper.
According to Rivian, its plan is to delay construction of the plant, not demolish it.
“Our Georgia site remains really important to us,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said yesterday. “It’s critical for the scaling of all these vehicles, between R2, R3, R3X.”
Tesla saboteurs
Meanwhile in Germany, Tesla’s first European gigafactory recently suffered sabotage by activists who cited water supply as a major concern. Calling themselves the Volcano Group, they set fire to a high-voltage pole on Tuesday, knocking out electricity at the automaker’s plant, as well as nearby residents.
Tesla said it has halted production until next week and will suffer nearly $1 billion in damages. CEO Elon Musk insulted the group on X, writing: “These are either the stupidest eco-terrorists on Earth or they are puppets of those who have no good environmental goals. Stopping the production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, is extreme dumm.” (The last part is German for “extremely stupid.”)
Last month, Stern reported on the environmental impact of the Tesla plant. According to the German publication, a local water utility found evidence that the factory polluted the water supply with phosphorus and nitrogen compounds at levels up to six times the legal limit.
Meanwhile, residents of the area voted against the expansion of the Tesla factory. The referendum was not binding, but protesters camped in the woods to prevent eviction attempts.
‘Ecocidal shame’
Rivian and Tesla aren’t the only companies that have encountered resistance to EV-related production plans.
In Quebec, activists protested earlier this year against a $7 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant planned by the Swedish company Northvolt, founded by two former Tesla executives in 2015. Protesters called the I project an “ecocidal shame”.
Similar protests erupted in Hungary last year against a Chinese-owned electric vehicle battery plant, built by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), with residents concerned about the potential impact on water supplies.
Of course, all types of planned or existing factories encounter protests. In France, climate activists recently stormed a “chemical forever” plant outside Lyon, following growing health concerns among nearby residents.
The production of electric vehicles and their batteries also requires large quantities of minerals. This means new or expanded mines with their own environmental problems focused on extracting minerals such as graphite, nickel and lithium.
“The transition to low-carbon fuels is not a magic wand without negative outcomes,” Sergey Paltsev, a senior researcher at MIT, told the newspaper. Washington Post last September. “There’s no free lunch. But it’s much less harmful than staying with fossil fuels.”