Tesla’s Berlin factory shuts down after suspected transformer arson

Tesla has had to suspend operations at its factory in Berlin, Germany, today. Early this morning there was a suspected arson attack on a nearby electrical transformer that led to the factory being evacuated, according to the German publication BZ. The fire has also left parts of Berlin without power, as well as towns in Brandenburg.

According to BZ, the transformer fire happened at 4:50 am CET, with Tesla’s factory losing power an hour before the start of today’s shift. Other companies based at the industrial estate next to the Tesla factory have also had to suspend work.

The fire brigade and power company’s work to restore power was slowed by the discovery of a tent apparently occupied by climate activists protesting water pollution at Tesla’s factory, as well as a planned expansion of the site. A sign warning of unexploded ordnance resulted in the first responders calling in the bomb squad.

Power has since been restored to the surrounding communities but remains out at the industrial estate.

“If the first findings are confirmed, it is a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure, this will have consequences,” said Brandenburg’s minister of the interior, Michael Stübgen. “The rule of law will react to such an act of sabotage with all severity,” he said.

A left-wing organization called the Volcano Group has claimed responsibility for the fire. The same group committed a previous arson attack on the Tesla factory in May 2021, claiming that the automaker is “neither green, ecological nor social.”

It’s unwelcome news for the EV company, which saw its share price slide heavily on Monday after news that Tesla’s sales in China dropped 19 percent year on year in February.