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A LITTLE OVER an hour’s train journey from Berlin, sitting in between the forests and lakes of Brandenburg, is the richest man in the world’s electric car factory.
At 740 acres – or more than 200 Croke Park pitches – the €4 billion Tesla Gigifactory was greeted as a major boon to the region when it opened in 2022 – but owner Elon Musk’s plunge into politics has made people in the nearby town of Erkner uneasy.
The South African has addressed Germany’s far-right AFD meetings and has even appeared in a controversial online chat along their leader, with the party polling stronger than ever at around 20%.
“At the beginning I liked him,” said Steffen, a shop assistant aged in his 30s, “because the factory was for our region. I thought it was important that a big company was here and it would bring advantages.”
It brought advantages initially certainly, with Steffen saying that a number of his friends and family work at the plant which designs batteries for Tesla’s electric vehicles.
“But the last few months, it’s very difficult. In my opinion he has a right to his opinion,” he added before pausing. “But his opinions make it a bit difficult.”
According to a poll carried out for this election in recent weeks by the Washington DC Democracy Institute, more Germans disapprove of Musk’s interventions than approve, by 41 per cent to 36 per cent.
But the survey shows he has had an impact, with 28 per cent saying they are “more likely” to vote AFD because of Musk compared to 23 per cent “less likely”.
The Journal visited the factory earlier today thanks to its specially commissioned railway line from Erkner but – quite understandably – there were few employees eager to talk about their company’s owner. Signage on the site also expressly forbid anyone not associated with the plant from entering the area, except for guided tours.
As for whether people in Erkner approve of Musk or not, it verges between love and hate according to Lele, a forestry worker aged in her late 20s.
“I think one part of the population doesn’t like him and the other does, and that’s it,” she said, before adding what she thought of him. “I think he’s a crazy person. I mean, he has a lot of money and a lot of influence, so that’s dangerous. We saw what he did in the US.”
This was a reference to news reports of Musk’s pledge to donate one million dollars per voter who got registered ahead of November’s US election.
In Germany, Musk’s interventions have ranged from telling Germans not to feel shame over the actions of ancestors in decades past – comments criticised as referencing the actions of ancestors who took part in Nazi Germany – to lambasting the state’s bureaucracy by claiming that the approval documents for his Tesla plant amounted to an entire truckload of paper, each page stamped by hand.
The support for AFD has the likes of Steffen nervous.
“I don’t want this party to get in. Especially in the region here they are very strong,” he said, pointing to Alice Weidel’s party receiving 29% in last September’s regional election, just behind the Social Democrats.
“A lot of my family like the AFD and they like Musk,” Steffen added. “They see that we can’t find any flats, and that it’s very expensive,” he said, adding that he thinks the party is providing “simple solutions for complex problems” and are unlikely to better the situation.
Musk’s factory is a big deal not just for Erkner, but for the Brandenburg and Germany itself. At a time when several factories are cutting jobs, its 11,000 jobs are vital for the region.
But they don’t come without difficulties, whether it’s diplomatically or for the workforce, according to one of Germany’s largest trade unions.
IG Metall told The Journal it study published in November found that 90% of its members feel they are overworked at the plant.
It said there was a “noticeably high level of sickness” at the car factory, which its survey partly attributed to the following:
“More than 80% of employees feel overworked and 9 out of 10 complain of work-related pain,” the union said.
It added that it strongly objected Tesla management calling to the homes of sick employees over their absence from work, something which it said it would challenge further if required.
It designs intensive battery packs for electric vehicles, something that has resulted in opposition from locals over its potential environmental impact.
Last year, two thirds of 5,000 voters rejected plans for an expansion of the factory due fears it would cause water shortages. It remains up in the air.
Lele, a forester aged in her late 20s, said this was causing immense frustration for her and others in the locality.
“It can be hard for the population in Brandenburg to use the water for their gardens,” she said, “We have a problem with climate change and he’s making it worse.”
Musk, on the other hand, has often maintained that his electric vehicles will help to save the planet from climate change.
The AFD party itself is understandably pleased with Musk’s support.
Beatrix von Storch, Deputy Chairman of the AfD-Parliamentary Group at Deutsche Bundestag, told The Journal in an email that it was a “very logical” move for Musk to lend his backing in this election.
After all, she said, “Elon Musk supported Donald Trump” and he “now supports the AfD, because we share the same values and have a very similar agenda”.
Von Storch added that his support offers further boost to “international cooperation” among the right-wing movements of various countries.
The time has come for an international cooperation of conservative parties and movements, much like the woke movement has done for decades.
Others are less impressed. Die Linke, the German left-wing party, has raised question marks over Musk’s campaigning when he also has such strong business interests.
Clara Bünger, one of its members of parliament, told The Journal today that Musk’s efforts represent “a blatant attempt to influence our democratic institutions”.
“This interference is particularly alarming given Tesla’s significant operations near Berlin, raising questions about the ethical implications of his business engagements in Germany,” Bünger added.
“Musk’s actions not only undermine political sovereignty but also embolden extremist ideologies that threaten the fabric of our society.”
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