Tesla Gigafactory Grünheide: Leaked paint was slightly hazardous to water

The leaked liquid at the Tesla Gigafactory Grünheide (we reported) was a paint that was slightly hazardous to water, according to information from the district. However, the impact on the environment is estimated to be low.

Tesla Gigafactory Grünheide: The leaked paint

In mid-April, there was an incident at the Tesla Gigafactory Grünheide in which around 15,000 liters of liquid leaked from a treatment bath. It was collected in a tub and pumped out the same day. However, in the process, several liters of the water-polluting liquid got out of the hose into the driveway and seeped away, the ÖDP reported.

“What leaked out was a viscous paint mixture used in electrocoating. It is according to the lower water authority of the water hazard class 1 to assign, “ informed the Brandenburg district Oder-Spree of the German Press Agency (dpa).

According to the WGK classification of the Federal Environment Agency, water hazard class 1 stands for substances such as antifreeze or lyes. Diesel or lubricating oils are classified as clearly hazardous to water (WGK 2), and petrol or waste oil are even classified as highly hazardous to water (WBK 3).

The risk to the environment is therefore likely to have been lower than initially assumed. According to the environmental agency, the paint is not classified as a hazardous substance. U.S. carmaker Tesla informed the Brandenburg Environmental Agency verbally on April 12 and in writing on April 14 about the incident in the paint shop. It had already occurred on April 11.

Tesla had officially opened the new Gigafactory Grünheide on March 22. Initially, around 500,000 electric vehicles per year are to roll off the production line there. Production is to be increased continuously thereafter.