Tesla Halts German Gigafactory Production After Arson Attack

Environmentalists opposing Tesla’s expansion of its German gigafactory deny being responsible for a suspected arson attack that forced the plant to halt production.

BBC News reports local authorities are now placing more weight on the claims of a little-known far-left group that says it had set fire to an electricity pylon close to the plant, causing power outages in the factory and nearby towns.

Production is expected to be stopped for around a week, with the company saying the outage could cost it millions “in the high nine-digit euro range” with about 1,000 vehicles left unfinished this week.

Two weeks before, a poll of the local residents of Gruenheide saw them vote against a project to double the factory’s footprint by clearing forest to build extra logistical spaces, including a train station and warehouses.

In a letter published online, activists calling themselves the Volcano Group say they sabotaged production. Tesla owner Elon Musk responded with a message on his X social media platform, writing: “These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they're puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals.”

Some will point out that if you’re an environmentalist living in Germany you’d have to be pretty “dumb” to buy a battery-electric vehicle right now. That's because most of the heavily industrialized nation’s electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels in aging power stations, arguably less efficiently than in the modern vehicle's internal-combustion engine. Also, since losing access to Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine, Germany has been forced to fall back on dirtier coal-fired power stations, increasing its output of greenhouse gases to power BEVs.

Meanwhile, some 100 people are camping in a forest near the factory protesting against the planned gigafactory expansion. One group, calling itself Robin Wood, told the BBC it had “nothing to do with the fire.”