Tesla stops production in Germany after suspected arson

Tesla was forced to halt production at its assembly plant outside Berlin early Tuesday after someone set fire to a nearby electricity pylon, sparking a blaze that cut off electricity to the factory and the surrounding region, police said.

Brandenburg police said they responded to the fire in a power pole in a field near the Tesla factory. The building was not damaged by the fire, but it did cause power outages in the central and wider region, where around 60,000 people live.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokeswoman for the US carmaker confirmed to German media that production had been halted and all employees had been evacuated. According to Tesla, about 12,500 people work at the plant, but not all of them would have been present when the power went out.

By early afternoon, residents reported that power had been restored in some areas.

Authorities said investigators from the Brandenburg State Bureau of Criminal Investigation had begun an investigation but urged speculation about who might be behind the arson, even as social media exploded with accusations blaming environmentalists.

Since last week, several dozen protesters have camped in huts and platforms built into the branches of trees in a wooded area next to the factory Tesla built. would like to destroy to build a railway yard, warehouses and educational facilities.

Last month, 65 percent of eligible voters in Grünheide, the community surrounding the factory, cast their votes against Tesla’s expansion plans. The vote was non-binding, but local officials said they would comply by going back to the drawing board to try to find an acceptable solution.

Environmental protesters have said they fear state and local governments, which have worked to lure Tesla to the site in 2022 and celebrated the economic benefits it has brought to the region, will override citizens’ wishes.

Brandenburg’s top security official, Interior Minister Michael Stübgen, condemned the suspected arson. “If the initial findings are confirmed, this is an insidious attack on our electricity infrastructure,” Mr Stübgen said. “This will have consequences.”

Tesla’s assembly plant in Grünheide is the company’s only one in Europe. It has a capacity to build about 500,000 cars a year, but the company is keen to double that. 1 million cars a year – more than the 800,000 Volkswagen produces at its long-standing factory in Wolfsburg.

A leading Berlin daily, Tagesspiegel, said a group calling itself “Vulkangruppe” and identifying itself as linked to the anti-fascist movement had sent a letter to the newsroom claiming responsibility for the attack.

“Turn off Tesla,” the letter said. according to the paper. A group of far-left extremists trading under the same name claimed responsibility for a 2021 attack that cut power to the Tesla factory construction site. That same year, security officials in the state of Brandenburg named the group in their annual report for committing several arson attacks in Greater Berlin.