After the attack on a power pylon, production at Tesla will be suspended until the end of next week
picture alliance/Lutz Deckwerth
Video: rbb24 | Mar 6, 2024 | Michael Lietz | Image: picture alliance/Lutz Deckwerth
Production at Tesla in Grünheide has been suspended for more than a week. The company announced this. The power supply there was interrupted by an arson attack. On Tuesday, Tesla expected an earlier restart.
After the attack on a power pylon, production at the US electric car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide (Oder-Spree) near Berlin will probably remain interrupted until the end of next week.
The company announced this on Wednesday evening upon request. Previously it had
“Bild” reported about it.
Police confirm confession letter as authentic
On Tuesday, previously unknown perpetrators set fire to a power pole in a field that is also responsible for supplying the Tesla factory. Production in Grünheide was then stopped. Tens of thousands of residents in the region were also affected by the power outage.
In a letter of responsibility, the left-wing extremist “Vulkan Group” claimed responsibility for the attack. The Police described the letter as authentic. The group accuses Tesla of “extreme conditions of exploitation” and wrote of sabotage against Tesla.
At Tesla, worry about the mood in Grünheide
Tesla factory manager André Thierig is concerned. With regard to the attack, he sees a “very critical underlying mood that perhaps fuels such behavior to some extent.” He is referring to the mood in the population around Grünheide. In a recent citizen survey in the town, around two thirds rejected Tesla’s planned expansion of the factory to include a freight yard and a warehouse on an adjacent site. More than 100 hectares of forest are to be cleared there. In response to this announcement, environmentalists and Tesla critics set up a protest camp in the forest near the factory and built tree houses.
The state IHK is concerned about the reputation of the location
After the attack, the East Brandenburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) is concerned about future investments in the region. The deputy general manager of the IHK Ostbrandenburg, Michael Völker, told rbb24 Brandenburg aktuell that there was not a scratch, but a deep wound in the country’s image. “These are of course scenarios that we are not at all familiar with and that go far beyond a factual discourse. That is why it is also necessary that business, politics and society stand together and send the signals that we will not allow such terrorist attacks here.” The damage to both the economy and society could be great.
Federal government plans law to protect important infrastructure
The economy in Germany is pushing for more security after the attack. “Politics and business are jointly required to ensure the security of networks and critical systems,” said Martin Wansleben, Managing Director of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). The federal government wants to use a law to strengthen the protection of important networks and systems and support the security efforts of operators. Wansleben criticized that the government had been delaying the adoption of the relevant law for months.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior plans for the cabinet to deal with the so-called Kritis umbrella law in the first half of the year. This is intended to better protect the critical infrastructure against dangers. In addition, it is the obligation of the network operators to protect their infrastructure, said the spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Maximilian Kall. This is of course easier with a substation than with a power pole standing in a field.
Faeser sees a greater willingness to use violence among left-wing radicals
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is now calling for tough action against left-wing extremists. “It appears to have been a suspected left-wing extremist attack; it was a serious arson attack that left many, many thousands, especially households, without electricity,” the minister told the German Press Agency on Thursday. She also strongly condemns the attack because it led to the power going out in clinics and doctors’ offices, which could be life-threatening.
Faeser said in a video interview: “To be honest, for us it is a phenomenon that we have already seen in recent years that left-wing radicalism is becoming harder, more violent and does not shy away from such actions, and tough action must now be taken .” The public prosecutor’s office must take action “and you must also feel severe punishments.”
Rising costs due to longer production stoppages
With the forced longer production stop, the damage to Tesla is likely to increase. Most recently, the company said the damage was several hundred million euros. However, this information referred to a possible restart of production next Monday. Now there would be another week of standstill.
Industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer estimates the previously expected damage from the US electric car manufacturer’s production stop in Grünheide to be less than the company. “In my opinion, given the current market situation, the pure loss of production for a week is more comparable to damage of perhaps 100 million euros,” said the director of the Center for Automotive Research in Bochum to the German Press Agency. “A nine-figure sum is already a high number, which is only understandable if there was very high damage to machines as a result of the fire at Tesla.”
Dudenhöffer sees opportunities for Tesla to compensate for the failure. “They can’t build cars at the moment. But the demand for electric vehicles is also bad at the moment,” said Dudenhöffer. “In February, Tesla brought 22 percent fewer vehicles onto the market in Germany with around 6,000 new registrations than in the same month last year.” Tesla demand is also suffering in markets like China. “Therefore, in my opinion, the Tesla factories in Shanghai and the USA are currently not being used to capacity and can “absorb” the Grünheide outages.”
The energy network operator Edis wants to end the power outage at Tesla as soon as possible. The emergency services were working with the highest priority on a temporary technical solution to resupply the previously unsupplied industrial settlement and production as well as the logistics center as quickly as possible, the company announced on Wednesday.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, March 6, 2024, 9 p.m