Defending electric car production plans at the Grünheide Gigafactory with a power outage: environmental concerns and a lawsuit against the automaker

There have been protests since the Gigafactory was opened in Grnheide. Local residents are concerned about the plant’s water usage and object to the automaker’s latest plans to double the site’s manufacturing capacity to a million electric vehicles a year.

Andre Thierig, who manages 12,500 staff at the Grünheide Gigafactory, near Berlin, said it would take several days before production would be back up and running. He said the outage would cost “in the high nine-digit euro range,” meaning more than $100 million.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Thierig said he was “very concerned about the safety of our employees.” He said that the outage had not posed any danger to people or the environment.

Police say firefighters extinguished a blaze at a nearby high-voltage electricity pylon in the early hours of the morning and prevented it from spreading to the Gigafactory. The power outage also affected the surrounding area, stretching as far as some boroughs in Berlin.

“We sabotaged Tesla today,” the group said, claiming the factory “eats up earth, resources, people, labor and spits out 6,000 SUVs, killing machines and monster trucks per week.” The 2,500-word letter goes on to accuse the Gigafactory of contaminating groundwater and requiring large quantities of drinking water to produce electric vehicles, echoing similar concerns raised by officials from the local water authority near the facility in February.

“These are either stupid eco-terrorists or puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals,” Musk wrote on X. He used the German words for “idiocy” and also stated that the production of electric vehicles would be stopped.

Nancy Faeser, the German Federal Interior Minister, said the attack on the critical energy infrastructure was a serious crime that cannot be justified.

Plans to extend the German Tesla factory, which was opened in Grünheide in 2022, have faced major hurdles after locals voted against the expansion in a nonbinding survey in February this year. Water protection zones may be affected by the expansion project. The Brandenburg region, where Grünheide is located, has been impacted by drought conditions for several years. Climate activists are protesting the impact of the factory on the water supply in the area.

Vulkangruppe Tesla Abschalten: A Left-Wing Extremist Organizing of the Tesla Gigafactory Blackout Attack

A group of left-wing extremists has claimed responsibility for the suspected arson attack that shut down the Tesla Gigafactory outside of Berlin on Tuesday.

The group, which calls itself “Vulkangruppe Tesla Abschalten” (also known as “Vulcan Group” or “Volcano Group”), said in a statement posted to Kontrapolis.info that it aimed to cause “the largest possible blackout of the Gigafactory,” citing environmental and labor concerns as motivations behind the attack. (Google Translate was used to translate the letter from German to English. All of the quotes are from that translation.

German police believe that the letter signed “Agua De Pau” is authentic, according to the news agency. A report from the German police states that various crimes have arisen under the name Vulkangruppe as a result of a surge in acid attacks on cars in 2011. The group has previously claimed responsibility for an attack in Grnheide during the construction of the Gigafactory.