Teutonic Tesla: Elon Musk’s busy week in Germany

A high court in Berlin has allowed Tesla to continue clearing a 92 hectare forest for its massive Gigafactory. The court rejected pleas from environment activists and said that its decision was final.

Google has banned the popular videoconferencing software Zoom from its employees’ devices, citing ‘’ security vulnerabilities’’. However, Google isn’t the first company to ban employees from using Zoom. Earlier this month, SpaceX, a rocket company, also banned employees, citing “significant privacy and security concerns'.⁣⁣

The share price of the US electric-car maker nosedived by around 10% at the end of the trading day after Tesla's CEO tweeted that the company's price was "too high." Elon Musk is also critical of the COVID-19 lockdown.

CEO Elon Musk has threatened to move the company’s future car production out of California if its Fremont factory is not allowed to reopen. Coronavirus curbs currently forbid the electric car plant from operating.

Tesla has become the world's most valuable carmaker, overtaking Japan's Toyota, after its stock hit a record high. Shares in the electric carmaker touched $1,134 on Wednesday morning before falling back, leaving it with a market value of $209.47bn (£165bn).

Elon Musk's firm plans to have three shifts a day, each with 3,000 to 3,500 workers, industry insiders have said. The staff count is lower than promised when the firm applied for a permit to build in a protected area.

The Tesla founder spent much of the week in Germany, hobnobbing with politicians and visiting sites of commercial interest. Between his ventures in mobility and vaccines, his stake in the country appears to be growing.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wiped off the value of technology companies in recent days, after a major share sell-off. The electric carmaker Tesla was among the worst-hit companies, sliding 21 percent in trading on Tuesday. Investors are concerned that these firms' shares rose too quickly during the pandemic and are now overvalued. Despite the rout, most tech shares are still trading at much higher values than they were at the beginning of the year. Also today, we look at Uber's pledge to use more electric vehicles.

The head of Berlin's Mercedes-Benz production facility has decided he'll be better off working for Tesla, which is building a Gigafactory just outside the city. Workers are not amused and are staging protests.

Tesla's shares jumped by over 10% following the news that the electric car company will be added to the US leading S&P 500 stock index. The inclusion follows a snub in September.

News that electric carmaker Tesla has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and that it will start accepting payments in the cryptocurrency, sent its price to record highs. Bitcoin was trading over $47,000 early on Tuesday, according to the website Coindesk.

Tesla has revolutionized the auto industry, building cars for the future even as legacy carmakers could barely take their eyes off the rearview mirror. But now Tesla's days as the leader of the EV pack might be numbered.