Tesla's German Gigafactory in Brandenburg near Berlin was paralyzed by a power outage early Tuesday morning. The cause was the burning of a power pylon, which was claimed by the left-wing extremist "Gruppe Vulkan". This group accuses Tesla of "extreme conditions of exploitation" and demands the destruction of the Gigafactory. The Vulkan group was already suspected of carrying out a similar attack in 2021.
According to the ministry, the perpetrators set fire to a high-voltage pylon early on Tuesday morning, causing a power outage in the Grünheide and Erkner regions, in parts of Berlin and at the Tesla factory. The power supply has since been restored in the surrounding communities.
Production is at a standstill, the factory has been evacuated and Tesla is expecting considerable costs and a production stoppage lasting several days. Tesla currently assumes that it will not be able to resume production this week. Plant manager Andre Thierig said at a press conference that the company is suffering economic damage in the high nine-figure range and will not be able to produce more than 1,000 vehicles per day. More than 12,000 employees are temporarily out of work.
Politicians such as Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen condemned the attack as a serious crime. Faeser emphasized the possibility of political motives and warned against attacks by left-wing extremist groups on critical energy infrastructure. Stübgen describes the attack as perfidious and announces consequences.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, speaks out via the X portal (formerly Twitter) and describes the perpetrators as "the dumbest eco-terrorists in the world". He emphasizes that it is "extremely stupid" to stop the production of electric cars and instead build cars that run on fossil fuels.
These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they're puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024
Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, is extremely stupid.
Despite criticism and protests, Tesla is still planning to expand the factory. However, conservationists and citizens' initiatives criticize the loss of forest areas and the location in the water protection area. Some opponents have been occupying a piece of forest east of the factory for days, but emphasize that they are not responsible for the fire.
