Tesla CEO Elon Musk slammed a suspected arson assault on his Gigafactory near Berlin as “extraordinarily dumb” after far-left activists claimed accountability.
German authorities mentioned a hearth brigade responded Tuesday after an electrical energy pylon near the power was set ablaze, knocking out energy and forcing manufacturing to cease.
The pinnacle of Tesla’s manufacturing facility – Musk’s first in Europe – advised Reuters energy is anticipated to be down for a number of days and confirmed the positioning was evacuated.
A purported far-left activist group known as the Volcano Group took credit score for the incident in a 2,500-word letter attacking Tesla and Musk that was distributed to native media.
Police mentioned they have been conscious of the letter, which was signed “Agua De Pau,” the title of a volcanic mountain within the Azores, and mentioned they have been checking its authenticity.
“These are both the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those that don’t have good environmental objectives,” Musk wrote on X.
“Stopping manufacturing of electrical automobiles, slightly than fossil gas automobiles, ist extrem dumm,” he mentioned, utilizing the German for “extraordinarily dumb”.
Authorities have vowed penalties for whoever set the pylon on hearth. The injury briefly knocked out energy for a number of surrounding communities.
“If the preliminary findings are confirmed, this might be a perfidious assault on our electrical energy infrastructure,” mentioned native Brandenburg state Inside Minister Michael Stuebgen, in response to Reuters.
“That may have penalties. Right here, hundreds of individuals have been reduce off from fundamental companies and put at risk,” he mentioned, including that the state would react with the “utmost severity.”
However Stuebgen cautioned in opposition to leaping to conclusions in regards to the doable perpetrators.
The realm round Tesla’s Gigafactory has been focused by numerous environmental protests since Musk opened the power two years in the past.
“We sabotaged Tesla,” the Agua De Pau letter acknowledged, per Reuters. The letter described the assault as a present for Worldwide Ladies’s Day on March 8.
“Tesla consumes earth, assets, individuals, staff, and in return spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer vehicles and monster vehicles every week,” it acknowledged.
Plans for Tesla to increase its manufacturing facility website, which manufactures about 500,000 electrical vehicles per 12 months, have been opposed by native residents who voted down a movement to chop bushes down for building, Reuters reported.
Tesla goals to double the positioning’s capability to 100 gigawatt hours of battery manufacturing and 1 million vehicles per 12 months, which might place Musk to dominate the European market.
Environmental activists have constructed and occupied tree homes within the forested space across the plant they count on to be cleared if the growth is authorised.
Reuters contributed to this report.
