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Arsonists calling themselves the Volcano Group left Tesla\u2019s German factory without electricity on Tuesday, leading to damages the company claims could approach $1 billion.<\/p>\n
More than 60,000 residents in Brandenburg and even parts of Berlin were also affected when a single high-voltage power mast near Tesla\u2019s factory in Gr\u00fcnheide was set ablaze, raising broader questions over how to protect defenseless infrastructure critical to the economy from vandals, saboteurs and criminals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complete destruction of the Gigafactory and the lopping off of technofascists like \u2018Elend\u2019 Musk are a step on the path towards liberation from the patriarchy,\u201d the group said in a statement sent to media, using a wordplay for Musk\u2019s first name that in German means \u201cmisery\u201d. <\/p>\n
The plant\u2019s senior director Andre Thierig estimated the economic loss to Tesla<\/a> from the production stop and subsequent ramp-up in the \u201chigh hundreds of millions\u201d of euros as some 1,000 vehicles each day cannot be built. <\/p>\n His factory, the company\u2019s first in Europe, manufactures the Model Y crossover for most European left-hand drive markets including Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n Emergency power still requires the local substation, which converts electricity into useful lower voltages, to still be connected with the rest of the grid. <\/p>\n The attack, however, severed the lines between the mast and the substation situated an hour\u2019s drive east of downtown Berlin, causing backup systems to fail.\u00a0<\/p>\n With Gr\u00fcnheide\u2019s ventilation knocked out, all 12,500 employees had to be sent home and it could take several days for the damage to be repaired by the local grid operator.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe currently do not expect to resume production this week,\u201d Thierig\u00a0told reporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Relatively little is known about the small-time saboteurs, who\u2014despite being the \u201cdumbest eco-terrorists on Earth<\/a>\u201d according to Musk\u2014have escaped arrest so far. <\/p>\n Their method appears to be striking only once every year or two in largely remote locations, setting fire to electronic cables that control everything from telecommunication and trains to manufacturing plants.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Federal Association for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (BSKI) in Germany said these targets are little more than sitting ducks since too little is being done to guard them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to protect these objects just like we might with a military installation,\u201d BSKI vice chairman Hans-Walter Borries told regional broadcaster Radio Berlin-Brandenburg on\u00a0Tuesday<\/a>, suggesting the use of drones to monitor them.<\/p>\n The Volcano Group had already targeted the Tesla factory\u2019s power supply during the construction phase of the plant in May 2021 months before it went into operation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe demonstratively stand with Tesla and will do everything in our power to prevent any further attacks,\u201d Brandenburg industries minister J\u00f6rg Steinbach said in a press briefing. <\/p>\n He echoed condemnations by Germany\u2019s federal minister of the interior in denouncing the crime, but went one step further by claiming it shared certain characteristics with terrorism.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the latest headache for Tesla and the Brandenburg government to arise recently in connection with the factory. <\/p>\n Only recently local residents voted\u00a0against an expansion<\/a>\u00a0of the Gr\u00fcnheide factory in a referendum not binding for the municipal government, with the result that some protesters are camping in the woods to prevent any clearing attempt.<\/p>\n Then a report in\u00a0Stern<\/em>\u00a0cited local water utility WSE as having found evidence the carmaker has been polluting the water supply for the past two years with harmful levels of phosphorus and nitrogen compounds as much as\u00a0six times the legal limit<\/a>\u00a0(Tesla did not deny the readings).<\/p>\n \u201cWhether these issues will have an effect on the expansion of the plant I cannot say,\u201d Thierig added.<\/p>\n Earlier this year output also\u00a0ground to a halt<\/a>\u00a0after battery cells shipped from Asia had to be redirected away from the Suez Canal due to attacks launched by Iran-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea<\/a>.<\/p>\n There may at least be a silver lining in this week\u2019s stoppage. <\/p>\n A lack of production may help bring inventories of unsold Teslas in\u00a0Europe<\/a>\u00a0back down to manageable levels without the need for further price incentives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMultiple headaches for Tesla\u2019s only European factory<\/h2>\n