Tesla was forced to shut down Gigafactory Berlin after a major power outage that may have been caused by sabotage.
It’s been a tough few weeks for Tesla’s Berlin plant, the automaker’s only plant in Europe, Electrek reports. First, it was forced to slow down production due to supply problems amid problems with cargo ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait (the outlet of the Red Sea) due to the Yemeni civil war.
Then local residents of Grünheide, the municipality where the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin is located, voted against the expansion of the factory, which would require cutting down more than 100 hectares of forest. Meanwhile, environmental activists set up camp in the woods outside the plant to try to stop the expansion.
Eventually, Tesla was forced to halt production and evacuate the plant amid the potential threat of power sabotage. Unidentified people reportedly set fire to a high-voltage pole between the cities of Steinfurt and Hartmannsdorf early Tuesday morning, leaving about 2,000 people without power, including the Gigafactory in Berlin.
Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) announced a “treacherous attack” on the electricity supply infrastructure. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Tesla is rumored to be the target, based on the location and time of the attack, as environmental activists call for action against the company.
Tesla told local media in Germany that it had secured the factory, but it was unclear when it would be able to resume production due to the power situation. After consulting with electricity supplier EDIS, the company does not expect production to restart quickly.
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