Tesla’s Berlin plant to restart after fire

Gruenheide, Germany — Tesla’s German plant near Berlin would resume operations this week after a power outage stopped production, the head of its works council said on Friday.

The Tesla electric vehicle (EV) factory closed on March 5 after a fire at a nearby power pylon, which police are investigating as an arson attack.

German police said they believed a letter from a far-left organisation called the Volcano Group claiming responsibility for the fire was authentic. 

“We will restart the factory next week,” Michaela Schmitz told a gathering of several hundred workers at the electric vehicle (EV) production site, known as a Gigafactory.

Some were holding a banner saying “We won’t be shut down!”

“Alongside many chapters of outstanding achievements, this attack will go down as a dark chapter in our history. But also that will not stop us,” said Schmitz.

The attack left the site’s 12,500 employees in limbo and meant the US EV maker could not produce about 6,000 vehicles a week, resulting in losses expected to total at least several hundred million euro.

Some locals and activists have for years criticised the environmental impact of Tesla’s plant in Gruenheide.

Schmitz said that Tesla employees would receive information about the restart soon, but gave no detail on timing.

“Colleagues have been condemned to sit at home, instead of contributing successfully together to the energy transition,” said Schmitz.

Germany’s federal prosecutors office said on Friday it had taken over the investigation, looking into charges of terrorism and sabotage.

Reuters