Residents of an Adelaide suburb are fighting against the prospect of a Tesla EV battery factory being parked on a disused manufacturing site, citing the company’s owner and ethics as reasons for voiding any deal.
The Marion council wants to sell a former manufacturing site known as Chestnut Court Reserve, which has been closed to the public since 2016 due to contamination, to a developer which is proposing the site be used for repurposing old Tesla lithium-ion batteries and a car servicing centre.
But the pushback has been huge.
The council received 948 responses to its community consultation process in April, it said in its May community feedback report.
Of these, 897 were against the idea, most citing Elon Musk’s weird and “offensive” behaviour since he became a vocal support of Donald Trump and for his role as head of Doge. They also cited the loss of 58 trees and open space, and the possibility of turning the contaminated site into public housing instead.
Only 51 responses were in favour of the project.
More than half of the submissions were from people living outside the council area – highlighting the now divisive impact of Musk – but locals weren’t keen either.
Of the submissions that came from people actually living in the area, 121 were against and only 11 were for the idea.
Those in favour of the idea lauded Musk’s business acumen, but also wanted something done with the fenced off, disused site.
One submission against the proposal encompassed the range of concerns expressed by locals:
“It will destroy green space in an already cramped housing area. It is important to maintain green spaces not only for the community but also for the local biodiversity,” it said.
“Further, and importantly I do not want to live in a suburb who sells out to profit a man who did a (word redacted) salute and who only has his own (word redacted) interests at heart. To me, selling green space to profit Elon Musk speaks to the values of the council and I want to live somewhere that is considerate and inclusive of all of its residents.”
Opponents of the project have launched a website called ‘Trees Not Teslas’.
The project is being proposed by a Melbourne property developer called MAB CCT Pty Ltd, which plans to develop the land with Tesla pencilled in as the long-term tenant. Doing so will also require the state government to revoke the area’s community-owned classification.
But Marion mayor Kris Hanna says planning processes don’t take into account the political views of potential leaseholders, and focused on the new jobs a battery factory might bring to the area and some $56 million in economic activity.
“The proposed factory would bring an estimated 100 new full-time jobs to our community plus the benefits of recycling electric batteries,” he said in comments sent to The Driven.
“The soil [at the Chestnut Court Reserve] is contaminated with the chemical trichloroethylene. It is safe if sealed over, such as at a factory and carpark, but not for recreation or gardening.”
State premier Peter Malinauskas told the Adelaide Advertiser that he “violently disagrees” with Musk’s politics, but said he he wanted to invest in the state, he is “fine with that.”
Tesla has a long history with South Australia, and already runs a service hub at the Tonsley Innovation District.
In March 2017, tech billionaire and now Sun Cable backer Mike Cannon-Brookes challenged Elon Musk to make good on his solving-South-Australia’s-energy-crisis-in-100-days claim, and that resulted in the original Tesla Big Battery, the world’s first grid scale battery storage project, at Hornsdale.
The battery was enlarged in 2020 and approved to provide grid-scale inertia in 2022. The Tesla-led South Australia Virtual Power Plant hasn’t met its original ambitious target of signing up 50,000, landing slightly more than 7,000 by 2023, and is now for sale. It was the first major attempt at a coordinated VPP in Australia.
The issue will be discussed at the next Marion council meeting.
Rachel Williamson is a science and business journalist, who focuses on climate change-related health and environmental issues.