Elon Musk visited Tesla’s giant European factory in Grünheide, Germany, on Wednesday. The factory was restarting operations last week after an arson attack on a nearby power transmission tower caused costly power outages and halted production.
Tesla’s chief executive, pictured at a factory in Germany, wore a black T-shirt that read, “We are the (giga) future,” and shouted, “Hey, Germany is amazing!” Do your best and aim for victory in Berlin! ” as he left the factory and got into his car.
Tesla’s factory outside Berlin was reconnected to the power grid on Monday after an arson attack on March 5 claimed by far-left activists.
In a post on X, Musk thanked employees for their efforts and said, “Thanks to the hard work of the Tesla Giga Berlin team and support from the community, our factory is back up and running!”
The attack southeast of the German capital set a nearby electricity tower ablaze, but the fire did not spread to Tesla’s facility, the U.S. electric car maker’s first manufacturing plant in Europe.
Tesla said it expected production disruptions to incur hundreds of millions of euros in losses.
Michaela Schmitz, head of the works council, told local radio station RBB on Wednesday that a team meeting would be held with Musk at the factory. He said production had resumed after a week-long suspension.
“The machine was restarted in a controlled and safe manner so that we could resume an early shift,” Schmitz told RBB.
Musk has not announced any plans for his time in Germany, but local media have reported that he may meet with political leaders in Brandenburg state.
