Sometimes, even electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) can bring out successes that are so outlandish that they might seem fake, at least at first. That happened recently at the Berlin Gigafactory, where it hit a major milestone in sustainability so incredible that some thought it was too good to be true. But investors were certainly on board, and sent Tesla shares up nearly 2% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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The reports were impressive, sufficiently so to make some doubt their veracity. But apparently the Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory managed to go one full year without discharging any wastewater into the municipal sewer system. This is an impressive enough feat in its own right, but comes just a month after Tesla reportedly returned 377,000 cubic meters of water rights to local authorities.
The feat makes the Giga Berlin, as it is known, one of the most environmentally friendly vehicle production facilities in the region. It may actually be the leader in environmental impact, depending on some of the metrics involved. The Giga Berlin actually has its own wastewater treatment plant, which is apparently recycling water sufficiently to keep wastewater completely out of the municipal sewer system.
A Stranger Tesla First
Down in Australia, meanwhile, a Tesla was involved in another unlikely milestone, though it did very little to actually be involved. In fact, this milestone fell out of the sky. A Tesla in Australia was driving along when something hit its windshield with great force. Sufficient force, in fact, to not only spiderweb the glass, but also melt it in some spots.
The object is believed to be a meteorite, and if it actually is one—it is currently being analyzed by scientists—it would be one of the first ever examples of a meteorite hitting a moving car. And, in a move that demonstrates why Full Self-Driving is a much safer system than you may think, the car was driving itself at the time, and carried on as if nothing had happened. It is highly likely that, if a person were driving instead, they would have swerved off into a ditch after taking a possible meteorite to the windshield.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 14 Buys, 10 Holds, and 10 Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 53.97% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $395.54 per share implies 12.87% downside risk.
