On March 6th local time, Tesla announced that the electric vehicle company's "super factory" in Germany will cease production until March 17th, longer than previously expected. The day before yesterday, Tesla's only factory in Europe was forced to shut down due to damage to its power supply line, with an estimated loss of hundreds of millions of euros.
Continue production shutdown
A Tesla spokesperson told Reuters on the 6th that it is expected that the German factory will not resume power supply until the end of next week. According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Tesla is expected to resume production early next week after the incident, and the shutdown time will become longer and the losses will be greater.
Tesla's German factory manager Andre Tirig said that during the shutdown period, more than 1000 cars were unable to be taken offline every day, "which means a nine digit loss for us.".
Beld Equity Research UK expects that this event and other factors will lead to a decrease in Tesla's global delivery volume to 4211000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year. Wall Street in the United States had previously expected 489000 vehicles.
E., a power grid operator under Yion Energy Group DIS said that they are repairing high-voltage transmission towers that were cut off due to a fire, striving to restore power as soon as possible. But E DIS did not provide a schedule.
The German police said that unidentified individuals set fire to a high-voltage transmission tower in the early hours of the 5th, causing power outages in several nearby villages and Tesla factories located in Greenhead. Greenhead is located in the eastern part of Brandenburg, near the German capital Berlin.
Tesla's German factory has always been a target of protests by environmental groups. This is not the first destructive activity targeting this factory. In May 2021, a similar arson caused damage to the power supply lines at Tesla's factory construction site.
In order to achieve the goal of increasing annual production from about 500000 vehicles to 1 million vehicles, the factory recently announced an expansion plan to cut down surrounding trees, which was rejected by local residents. Starting from the end of February, some environmentalists and anti Tesla groups have built treehouses and protest camps in the forest near the factory.
Extreme groups
The left-wing extremist group "Volcano Organization" claimed on the 6th that they were responsible for the arson on the 5th. This organization claims that Tesla's factory affects the environment and local water supply, and there is "extreme exploitation". The factory currently has approximately 12500 employees.
According to Reuters, the "Volcano Organization" aims to force Tesla to shut down its factory.
In a previous report, German law enforcement classified the "Volcano Organization" as a left-wing extremist group, stating that the group has been attempting to gain influence in recent years through environmental movements to address global climate change, damaging railway power lines, communication towers, data transmission lines, and corporate vehicles, and is associated with multiple arson cases, including the destruction of power cables at Tesla's German factory construction site in 2021. In 2020, the organization also claimed arson targeting the Heinrich Hertz Institute. This institution is located in Berlin and its research topics include digital infrastructure.
After the arson incident on the 5th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the attackers "ecological terrorists" on social media, stating that "blocking the production of electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel vehicles is extremely foolish.".
Appeal for protection
On the 6th, the German business community called for strengthened protection of critical infrastructure, believing that protecting foreign investment is crucial for stimulating growth in Europe's largest economy facing recession.
Mertin Wansleben, Executive Director of the German Chamber of Commerce, said that ensuring the security of networks and critical infrastructure is a shared responsibility of both the government and business sectors. "Infrastructure is the lifeline of Germany's economy... The protection of infrastructure needs to adapt to the changing security situation, making investors continue to see Germany as a safe country, which is very important."
German Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Robert Habeck condemned the attack on Tesla's factory on the 6th, stating that it is a "criminal" issue that must be addressed. In his view, environmental protests cannot evolve into violence. "I have a feeling that we have reached a critical point and must not go astray."
German industry expert Stefan Brazel believes that it is currently unclear whether Tesla's expansion plan for its German factory can proceed smoothly. This arson attack may damage the image of Germany's automotive industry.