Tesla’s shiny new Berlin Gigafactory has hit a major roadblock — a suspected arson attack that left the massive EV plant without power.
On Tuesday morning, an electricity pylon near the factory site went up in flames, cutting electricity to the plant and leaving Elon Musk’s electric dream machine stuck in neutral. According to reports, this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill power outage either. Authorities suspect the pylon fire was intentionally set by environmental activists opposed to the factory’s presence.
Musk sounds off on “Dumb Eco-Terrorists”, never one to mince words, Elon took to X to voice his frustrations, calling the suspected arsonists “dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth.” I mean, come on — sabotaging an electric vehicle factory that’s helping reduce emissions? That’s like joining PETA and then frying up a batch of chicken nuggets. It just doesn’t add up.
But Musk didn’t stop there. He questioned whether the culprits were truly environmentalists or just “puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.” Bold claims from the outspoken CEO, who’s no stranger to controversy himself. You’ve got to admire his moxie, even if his tweets sometimes make you go, “Huh?”
In the wake of the attack, Tesla was quick to condemn the violence and vowed to “restart the factory as soon as possible.” After all, with over 12,000 employees at the site, every minute of downtime is a costly one. Not to mention the environmental setback of delaying production of emissions-free vehicles.
While power has since been restored to the area, the incident serves as a shocking reminder of the potential consequences of eco-extremism. You’d think saving the planet would be a priority for, well, environmentalists.
If the suspected arsonists are caught and what their motivations truly were. Tesla’s road to electrifying Europe just got a bit bumpier.