At Tesla’s ‘Gigafactory’ in Germany, Elon Musk clashes with green activism and bureaucracy
“We sabotaged Tesla,” the letter reads, calling the fireplace a “gift” for March 8, International Women’s Day. The letter describes the attack on the factory and “techno-fascists” like Musk as a step toward “liberation from patriarchy. “
The government is verifying the authenticity of the letter.
Musk tweeted that “they are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on the planet or the puppets of those who don’t have smart environmental goals. “
Emergency services were called early Tuesday after it was reported that a transmission tower had caught fire near the electric car maker’s site. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but citizens were without strength for several hours.
In a statement, Tesla said the production facility was in a “safe state” and had been shipped home. However, the production disruption pushed Tesla’s inventory into the red, with a 2. 5% loss in premarket trading on Wall Street.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said such an attack on Germany’s electric power infrastructure was a “serious crime that cannot be justified by anything. “
“If a far-left motivation is confirmed, this would be further proof that the far-left scene fears attacks on critical energy infrastructure,” he warned.
The outage came as Tesla is weighing plans to expand its 170-hectare (420-acre) single European plant and double production to 1 million cars a year.
The expansion, however, has been criticized by local citizens and environmentalists. Since Thursday, dozens of protesters have built treehouses and occupied part of a forest that would have to be razed in order to carry out the project. Local citizens also rejected the plans in a non-binding vote in February.
The electric carmaker, which started production at the site in 2022 after a complicated two-year approval and structuring process, is no stranger to opposition in the region.
In 2021, the same Volcano organization suspected of committing an arson attack on the force source at the site of Tesla’s structure. At the time, the organization accused Tesla of not being environmentally conscious.