Suspected arson attack
At Tesla the production lines are at a standstill – how do VW, Ford and Co. protect themselves from attacks?
Police vehicles are parked on the Tesla factory premises in the morning hours. After a suspected arson attack, the US car manufacturer Tesla is expecting a day-long production outage at its factory in Grünheide near Berlin.
© Lutz Deckwerth / DPA
With a suspected arson attack, opponents of Tesla managed to paralyze the factory for days. The question arises: What measures can the car companies take to prevent this from happening?
For Tesla boss Elon Musk, they are either “the stupidest eco-terrorists in the world” or “puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.” This refers to the “volcano group”, which is classified as left-wing extremist and which, according to their own admission, sabotaged Tesla – with astonishing effect.
A suspected arson attack on a freely accessible high-voltage pylon in the Oder-Spree district brought production at the entire plant to a standstill. Plant manager André Thierig had no choice but to send the approximately 12,000 employees home and announce damage “in the high nine-figure range”. Thierig expected a breakdown of more than 1,000 cars per day and assumed a loss of production for at least this week.
Attacks on critical infrastructure
In addition to Tesla, numerous other manufacturers also produce vehicles in Germany. Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Opel, Audi, Ford and Porsche build a variety of different models at various locations. After the alleged attack on Tesla, the question arises as to how people elsewhere want to prevent a small group of malicious people from being able to shut down an entire location.
Companies have different answers to this, even if the majority don’t want to talk about the topic. When asked, a Volkswagen spokesman said: “The supply to the plant in Wolfsburg is ensured by its own power plant and energy distribution systems. This infrastructure is essentially located on the factory premises. The plant in Baunatal also has its own power plant. The locations in Emden , Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Hanover are supplied via the public network. If we have any questions about the safety of the infrastructure outside the factory premises, we support the respective and responsible supply companies as far as we can.”
Ford keeps it short and writes this star: “Our entire factory premises are extensively secured so that no unauthorized person can gain access. The entrances are controlled by our factory security.”
It’s understandable that many other manufacturers would like to star also asked for an answer, did not comment in detail on the precautions taken on site to ensure the safety of the production sites. BMW, for example, replied: “In principle, we do not comment on our safety strategies.” A Porsche spokesman responded in the same way and wrote: “Please understand that we cannot comment on this for security reasons.” It’s understandable – after all, everyone reads it.
Politicians announce high penalties for attack on Tesla
But it is also clear that the alleged arson attack on Tesla is by no means an ordinary threat, as the perpetrators face high penalties. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the incident showed “enormous criminal energy” and “nothing can justify it.”
Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen summarized the act under the term “ecoterrorism” and announced in the “Bild” newspaper that the state would react “hardly.” The suspected arson attack not only affected the Tesla factory and thousands of employees, but also numerous households that were “cut off from basic services” due to the damage, Stübgen continued.
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg reported that the power outage in the affected Berlin districts had been resolved since Tuesday evening. The production lines at Tesla are still at a standstill – factory manager Thierig explained at a press conference that he does not expect production to be restarted this week.