The German factory of Tesla faced a significant setback when arsonists, identifying themselves as the Volcano Group, sabotaged a high-voltage power mast near the facility in Grünheide, resulting in power loss. The incident left more than 60,000 residents in Brandenburg and parts of Berlin without electricity and raised concerns about protecting critical infrastructure from acts of vandalism and sabotage.
In response to the incident, Tesla accused the arsonists of causing potential damages nearing $1 billion. The arsonist group, in a statement to the media, referred to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as “Elend” Musk, employing a German wordplay meaning “misery,” and expressed intentions of destroying the Gigafactory and eliminating individuals like Musk as a step towards liberation from the patriarchy.
According to Andre Thierig, the senior director at the plant, the disruption halted production, affecting approximately 1,000 vehicles per day. Thierig estimated that the losses could escalate into the “high hundreds of millions” of euros. The European factory in Grünheide, Tesla’s first in Europe, manufactures the Model Y crossover for most European left-hand drive markets, including Germany.
The power outage forced Tesla to send all 12,500 employees home as the factory’s ventilation system was offline. Repairs by the local grid operator are expected to take several days, with Thierig stating that production is unlikely to resume during the current week.
The incident underscores the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to deliberate acts of sabotage and highlights the potential economic repercussions for companies like Tesla, which rely heavily on uninterrupted operations for their manufacturing processes.
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