Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a trip to Europe this week, and part of that included a trip to Berlin and Giga Berlin where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) chairman, Armin Laschet. Tagesspiegel noted that this was mostly a working visit and that he also met with Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke and Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach.
Tesmanian noted that Elon’s visit to the gigafactory came after Laschet announced he would visit Giga Berlin on August 13. The article added that Christian Democratic Union officials were unaware that Elon would pop by — but being CEO, it was the best move for Tesla for Elon to be there. This is where he said some passionate words in response to Laschet’s hope for hydrogen.
Laschet hyping up hydrogen. At this, Elon burst out in laughter. “What’s the future of cars? Hydrogen,” Laschet said. This is where Elon pointed out that battery-electric vehicles is the future and started laughing as Laschet continued in German. How silly for the politician to visit a BEV factory and hype up hydrogen.
“Hydrogen is a waste of time,” Elon said. “I think, hopefully, Giga Berlin — this factory here — can serve as inspiration to people in Germany and throughout for excitement about the future. I mean, we gotta be excited about the future. We gotta do things that make us want to live! It cannot always be about problems every day.
“Do you want to wake up every morning everything is just a problem? But what inspires you? What makes you excited about the future? There’s got to be some things like that.”
Elon also said that Tesla had gotten a lot of support from the government there and told Laschet that it’s very much appreciated. “We feel very welcomed and we’re very happy to be here in Deutschland.”
Later on Twitter, Elon Musk announced what many have been eagerly waiting for — a huge, fun event a Giga Berlin for the general public, with priority for the residents of Brandenburg and Berlin. The event will take place on October 9th of this year.
Priority for residents of Brandenburg & Berlin, but also open to general public
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2021
There was one more tidbit from the event that caught many people’s attention.
Elon’s partner, Grimes, a musician who I am a fan of, was also there. I saw her video on my TikTok “for you page” feed and it was pretty cute. Grimes was conducting the robots at Giga Berlin. At the end of the video, Tesla employees who were there gave her applause. The video gave us a great yet short look inside Giga Berlin while showing a lighter, more fun atmosphere than was shown in a recent video by a German TV show. The round of applause seemed to take Grimes by surprise. I loved her confidence and lightheartedness.
Impressive robots in Tesla Giga Berlin & nice dance @Grimezsz 😃 pic.twitter.com/SzfUkTImST
— Vincent Yu (@vincent13031925) August 14, 2021
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