Tesla halts production at German plant after left-wing sabotage act

The US electric car manufacturer Tesla said on Wednesday evening that production at its suburban Berlin factory will stop longer than previously expected and will last until the end of next week following an attack on its power supply.

The company, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, cited damages totalling several hundred million euros as a result of the forced production shut-down at Tesla's only car factory in Europe.

Earlier, Tesla said it expected the production stop to last until early in the week. Now, with a longer production standstill expected, the damage to the company is expected to grow further.

Perpetrators set fire to an electricity pylon in a field near the Tesla factory in Grünheide on Tuesday, knocking out power in the factory, halting production and forcing the plant to be evacuated.

Tens of thousands of residents in the region were also affected by the power outage.

A letter from a left-wing extremist group confessing to the attack was received by the German state police and judged "authentic," a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The left-wing Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) said it had sabotaged the Tesla factory, accusing the company of "extreme conditions of exploitation."

Tesla plant manager André Thierig said, "This means economic damage in the high nine-figure range for us."

He estimated more than 1,000 cars per day would not be built during the production standstill. The costs stem from the number of vehicles which cannot be produced during the power outage and therefore cannot be sold, Thierig told dpa.

Tesla's Model Y is manufactured at the Tesla factory near Berlin. The cars sell for between around €45,000 ($48,900) and just under €60,000.

This isn't the first attack on Tesla. While the consequences are more severe this time, it follows a similar pattern to the arson in May 2021, when a power cable supplying the Tesla construction site was damaged.

Germany's Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Wednesday condemned the attack and said it is a "crime" that must be solved.

It was "wrong in every respect and in no way acceptable," he said at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport before his multi-day trip to the United States.

Freedom of demonstration is a valuable asset but it should not be allowed to slip into violence, he said.

"I have the feeling that we have now reached a turning point, and it must not be taken the wrong way," said Habeck.

The business community in Germany is also calling for enhanced security measures following the attack on Tesla's power supply.

"It is the responsibility of both politics and business to ensure the security of networks and critical infrastructure," said Martin Wansleben, chief executive of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK).

The economics minister for the state of Brandenburg, Jörg Steinbach, said he spoke with Tesla boss Musk and described him as "matter-of-fact" in his reaction to the attack, according to a report in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel.

On Tuesday, Musk slammed the attack at the plant. "Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm," he wrote on Tuesday on the platform X, which he also owns, using the German for "is extremely stupid."

Over the years, US companies seeking to establish themselves in the Berlin-Brandenburg region have faced resistance beyond just attacks and sabotage.

Environmentalists and local residents, including some Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) right-wing populist party, opposed the Tesla's Gigafactory, citing concerns about environmental impact and gentrification.

On Thursday, environmentalists and Tesla opponents set up a protest camp with tree houses in the forest near the plant.

Plant manager Thierig is concerned. In view of the attack, he sees a "very critical mood, which may also fuel such behaviour to a certain extent."

Some 12,500 people work at Tesla facility in Grünheide. The incident also poses a significant risk to Tesla's ambitious production plans, which include scaling up from 500,000 to 1 million cars annually.

However, it remains uncertain whether these plans will proceed as intended. "I can't say at this point whether this will have an impact on the further expansion of the factory."

Industry expert Stefan Bratzel sees a potential image damage to the German automotive industry post-attack, noting that besides power supply disruptions, there are other methods to disrupt production.