Sharjah24 – AFP: Despite the local resistance, construction has been completed in double-quick time, replacing a swathe of pine forest with an enormous concrete-paved expanse accessed via "Tesla Road".

The company has laid on a big wheel, electronic music and vegetarian food trucks -- an event conceived in the image of Berlin, Europe's party capital.

Tesla began construction at the site in Gruenheide in 2019 after receiving preliminary approval under a special procedure. 

But local authorities are still in the process of evaluating the environmental impact of the factory, despite the construction being all but finished.

The special treatment afforded to the company has angered some residents, who are concerned about the impact the plant could have on the water supply and biodiversity.

Supported by NGOs, opponents have sent letters, held protests and gone to court to try and stop the project.

Last year, work at the Tesla site was temporarily stopped after NGOs requested an injunction to protect the nearby natural habitat of endangered species of lizards and snakes while they were in their winter slumber.

A residents' consultation, part of the approval process, is due to close on October 14.

Until the survey is completed, final approval cannot be given and production at the factory will not be allowed to begin.

- Economies of scale -
About 500,000 cars a year should roll off the line at the factory just outside Berlin, Tesla's first production location in Europe.

Not all the attendees at Saturday's party were convinced the region can take it.

On the same 300-hectare plot, Musk also plans to build "the world's biggest battery factory".

And the site will equally boast the "world's largest die-casting machine", said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Germany.