Attack on Tesla megafactory in Berlin will cost hundreds of millions of euros

The director of a Tesla plant in Germany said on Tuesday that the sabotage, claimed by a far-left group and forcing a halt in production, will cost the electric car maker hundreds of millions of euros.

The production shutdown, caused by sabotage at a high-voltage tower, will result in losses “in the order of nine figures,” Andre Thirige told a news conference, saying it was impossible to accurately predict when the North American automaker’s plant would start operating. , located near Berlin, will be able to resume operations.

“There will be a few days break, we don’t expect that to happen this week. We don’t know yet whether it will be early next week. We’ll see,” he said.

Thirig noted that the factory, which began operating in 2021, had not received any threats this time, but recalled that it had already been the target of an alleged arson attack and that an attack also occurred on a nearby train track.

“We are concerned about the safety of our employees,” he admitted.

A German far-left group calling itself Vulkangruppe today claimed responsibility for the “sabotage” of electricity infrastructure in a message published on the portal Indymedia, cited by the France-Presse news agency (AFP).

“With our sabotage, we set the goal of achieving the maximum possible power outage at Tesla’s ‘megafactory’,” Vulkan Gruppe said in a statement published on a platform used by activists.

Police announced an investigation into suspected arson, with plant officials and local authorities also calling the act deliberate.

“[A Tesla] consumes land, resources, people and work and “spits out” six thousand SUVs [sigla em inglês para veículo utilitário desportivo]“‘Killing machines’ and ‘monster trucks’ every week,” the group said in a statement, in which it also blamed the factory for “contaminating groundwater levels and consuming huge amounts of drinking water.”

In this regard, André Thirige de-dramatized the environmental impact of the factory and noted that the current atmosphere of suspicion “encourages” this type of behavior, without being able to say whether this will have consequences for the planned expansion of the megafactory.

For his part, Elon Musk, the tycoon who owns Tesla, accused the authors of the “criminal fire” on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

“Either they are the stupidest eco-terrorists on the planet, or puppets of those who have no good environmental goals. Stopping the production of electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel cars is extremely stupid,” he said.

The megafactory has been shrouded in controversy since its construction due to its alleged impact on the region’s groundwater, and in recent weeks allegations have also emerged regarding the plant’s wastewater, which according to a press report exceeds acceptable limits for toxic substances. .

Plans to expand the plant, which employs about 12,000 people, have faced resistance from local residents and environmental groups, who occupied nearby woodland last Thursday to prevent work from continuing.

Brandenburg police are investigating the fire at the high-voltage tower, but the Federal Prosecutor’s Office could take over the investigation if there is evidence that it was a deliberate attack.

According to a number of German media, the sabotage manifesto sent by Vulkangruppe calls for “total destruction of the megafactory” and accuses “technofascist” Elon Musk, indicating that these actions are the next step towards “liberation from patriarchy.”

“Tesla is a symbol of green capitalism and the totalitarian technological attack on society. The green growth myth is just a dirty ideological trick designed to rally ranks against criticism at the domestic policy level,” the same text accuses.