Eco activists: Tesla eats up earth, sabotages German plant

Tesla’s sole European plant, the Berlin Gigafactory in Germany was evacuated on Tuesday, 5 March 2024 after a major power outage. Left-wing eco-extremist group, Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) claimed responsibility for the sabotage which was caused by a fire that damaged a power line tower.

The incident is being investigated as an act of arson which not only caused a power outage at the Gigafactory but also affected around 2,000 homes in Berlin. There were no casualties in the incident.

Following the sabotage, the Volcano Group published a letter, stating “We sabotaged Tesla today because Tesla eats up earth, resources, people, labour and spits out 6,000 SUVs, killing machines and monster trucks per week. Our gift for March 8th is to shut down Tesla.”

German police said they were aware of the threats purportedly sent by the Volcano Group and that they were checking its authenticity which could take several days.

This sabotage was in response to Tesla’s plans to expand Berlin Gigafactory which currently has a capacity of around 500,000 cars a year. The plant currently produces the Tesla Model Y which has become the world’s best-selling car in 2023 and is among the top-sellers in Europe.

Also read: Move over Toyota! Tesla Model Y crowned world's best-selling car of 2023

The plant began operations in 2022 and Tesla aims to double the site’s capacity to 100 gigawatt hours of battery production and a million cars per year. Environmental activists protested against the factory’s expansion last week and plan to occupy a nearby forest for a week.

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, did not mince words on Twitter (currently known as X) in response to the arson attack. “These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists in the world or they are puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals,” Musk posted, saying the act of stopping production of EVs than fossil fuel vehicles “is extremely stupid” in German.

This wasn’t the first incident to happen at the Berlin Gigafactory. In September 2022, a fire broke out at the factory’s recycling facility. No injuries were reported then but vehicle production was put on hold.