Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory halted due to hibernating snakes

Tesla's colossal Gigafactory being built just outside Berlin could see construction halted again, but this time by an unlikely foe: hibernating snakes.

First reported by Berlin's Tagesspiegel and then by Reuters, a German court has required Tesla to suspend all forest clearing at the 300-hectare site, located in Grünheide in Brandenburg, south-east of Berlin, due to concerns from environmentalists it could threaten local snakes in hibernation. 

“The Landesumweltamt (state environmental authority) and Tesla will now be consulted, they need to make submissions by this afternoon and then we assess the situation,” a spokesman for the administrative court told Reuters. Read more...