- Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany shut down earlier this month after an arson attack.
- Activists claimed responsibility for the attack on the plant.
- The factory employs 12,500 people and produces 1,000 cars per day.
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Tesla’s German Gigafactory is getting back to business — earlier than anticipated — after an arson attack forced it to shut down for roughly a week.
Production is slowly resuming, CNN reports, after local energy company E.DIS reconnected the factory to the electricity grid late Monday.
The factory, located outside Berlin, is Tesla’s only plant in Europe.
The March 5 attack, which far-left activists claimed responsibility for, dealt a huge blow, given it employs 12,500 people and produces 1,000 cars per day, according to Reuters. The location produces Model Y SUVs and battery cells.
Tesla initially thought the factory might be closed through this week, according to CNN, though it’s unknown when production will resume as normal.
The so-called Volcano Group took responsibility for the attack.
They set fire to an electricity pylon near Tesla’s plant and took credit for sabotaging the company on the website kontrapolis.info, writing that Tesla “consumes earth, resources, people, workers and in return spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer cars and monster trucks each week.”
Elon Musk called the group “eco-terrorists” on X. “Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm,” he wrote.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
