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Elon Musk 2020 visiting the Tesla factory in Grünheide: Visit again on Wednesday?

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Odd Andersen/AFP

An arson attack on a power pole in Brandenburg led to a day-long power outage at the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin.

Now Table Media, citing business circles, reports that Tesla boss Elon Musk wants to visit the factory on Wednesday.

The car company has not yet commented on this.

On Tuesday last week, unknown people set fire to a freely accessible electricity pylon in a field in eastern Brandenburg, which also ensures the supply to the car factory in Grünheide.

The left-wing extremist Vulcan group declared itself responsible for the attack.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office took over the investigation.

Concern for employees

After the attack, the company is concerned about the safety of its employees on site.

“Of course there are concerns,” said plant manager Andre Thierig to “Wirtschaftswoche.”

Some employees asked him “whether it was dangerous to wear Tesla clothing outside the factory.”

The company therefore turned to the authorities for support.

Thierig reported that he informed Tesla boss Elon Musk about the situation after the attack: "He was shocked like us, offered his support, couldn't believe it."

Tesla initially expected production to come to a standstill until the end of this week.

According to the supplier Edis, the decisive switching took place on Monday evening.

Since then, Tesla has been back online and is gradually ramping up production.

However, it may still be some time before production in Tesla's only European car factory runs again as it did before the attack.

Tesla estimates damage at hundreds of millions of euros

“We cannot say when we will be able to fully resume production,” the company said on Tuesday.

"It's very difficult to predict." Even though the power is back on, it's not like a light bulb that lights up again immediately after it's switched on.

Each robot control must be restarted individually and each system must be checked for possible damage.

A week ago, plant manager André Thierig estimated the damage at several hundred million euros.

The Tesla boss's last known visit to the so-called Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg - about 30 kilometers from the center of Berlin - was a few months ago: After the opening of the Tesla factory in Europe about two years ago, Musk briefly visited the factory in November 2023 .

Meanwhile, not far from the car factory, environmental activists are protesting against Tesla and electromobility in tree houses.

With the occupation since the end of February, the “Stop Tesla” initiative wants to prevent the forest from being cleared as part of an expansion of the Tesla site.

The initiative stated that it had nothing to do with the attack.

Activists prepare for eviction

In a citizen survey in Grünheide, the location of the factory, a majority rejected Tesla's expansion plans for a freight station and logistics areas.

The activists are preparing for a possible evacuation of the forest, which belongs to the state of Brandenburg.

Workshops would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare the people in the camp, said a spokeswoman for the “Stop Tesla” initiative on Tuesday.

A police spokesman said on Tuesday that they were examining how to deal with the protest camp.

He did not say when a decision could be expected.

Brandenburg's economics minister no longer wants to tolerate Camp

Brandenburg's SPD parliamentary group leader Daniel Keller called for the protest to end.

“It is not a demonstration in public space (...), but rather a demonstration on an area that is owned by the state of Brandenburg,” said Keller on Tuesday.

The expectation of Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) and Agriculture Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) is relatively clear to end the demonstration after the deadline has expired.

The camp is initially approved by the police until Friday - with the option of an extension.

After the attack, the Brandenburg state government said that toleration would be reassessed.

Brandenburg's Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) said on Monday in the RBB with a view to the camp: "I would no longer tolerate it."

ala/dpa