Just shy of a week after an arson attack on a nearby electricity transmission tower cut off power and forced a factory shutdown, Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg has taken its first step to resume production.
Repairs on the tower near Steinfurt, Germany, accelerated faster than expected, according to Alexander Montebaur, the managing director of German energy supply company E.Dis AG. On Monday evening, engineers were able to restore power to Giga Berlin.
“After a weekend of intensive work around the clock and numerous crucial repairs - on what is now probably the most famous construction site in Germany - took place today and took several hours to complete,” E.Dis Alexander Montebaur wrote on Linkedin (link in German).
An entity that identifies itself as a far-left group named “Vulkangruppe” — “Volcano Group” — claimed responsibility for the March 6 arson and called Tesla CEO Elon Musk a “technofascist” who “stands for colonialism, land grabbing, and an exacerbation of the climate crisis.” The group also compared Tesla’s workplace practices to China’s treatment of ethnic Uyghur Muslims, many of whom have been pressed into forced labor.
The plant’s temporary closure is expected to have cost Tesla a “high nine-figure amount,” according to Giga Berlin managing director Andre Thierig. The gigafactory usually makes 375,000 Model Y SUVs yearly — or between 1,300 and 1,400 each day — which sell for about €45,00 ($49,000). That comes out to roughly €60 million ($65.6 million) lost sales per day.
Deutsche Bank analysts said on Monday that they expect Tesla to miss Wall Street’s expectations for first-quarter earnings and deliveries. The bank cited increased costs from production of the low-margin Cybertruck, weakening global demand for electric vehicles, and Giga Berlin’s troubles.
“The power supply to the Gigafactory has been restored for a few minutes. Now, under all safety precautions, the measures for the restart are in full swing,” Thierig wrote on LinkedIn Monday (link in German). “It will certainly take some time before we have fully resumed production, but the most important step has been taken! Power ON!”
Giga Berlin had only recently resumed production after temporarily closing down in January after Houthi rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea prevented it from acquiring necessary parts. As Thierig notes, it will take Tesla some time to return to its usual production level.