GRUENHEIDE, Germany — Elon Musk, the mercurial billionaire CEO of Tesla, made a surprise visit to the company’s giant electric vehicle factory near Berlin on Wednesday. He arrived to raucous cheers from workers as the plant restarted production just days after a suspected arson attack knocked out its power supply.
Mr. Musk strode into the massive Giga Berlin facility wearing his signature black, looking characteristically cool despite the drama of the past week. He greeted employees like a general addressing his troops after a hard-won battle.
We faced an insane,uli-malicious attack by maniacs, but you showed the world that nothing can stop the Tesla team!” Mr. Musk proclaimed, according to witnesses. His motivational words were met with thunderous applause and chants of “Elon! Elon!”
The Gigafactory, located in the sleepy town of Gruenheide, had been forced to halt production last Tuesday after a suspected arson incident cut off its electricity supply. The blackout also impacted over 20,000 local residents and several major businesses.
While restoring power took several days, Tesla moved swiftly to get the plant back online. By Monday evening, the lights were finally back on, allowing workers to begin the laborious process of restarting the highly automated manufacturing systems.
On Wednesday morning, the first Tesla Model Ys rolled off the line again to the delight of the workforce. That’s when Mr. Musk made his rousing appearance, keen to celebrate the restart with his Berlin team.
“We will not be cowed by terrorism or anti-industrial kooks,” the CEO was overheard saying animatedly. “The future is being built here at Giga Berlin!”
The suspected arson attack is believed to be the work of a far-left group calling itself “Volcano.” They claimed responsibility, railing against Tesla’s “extreme exploitation” in a sickening nod to the deadly arson attack on a German labor union decades ago.
German authorities have condemned the group as eco-terrorists and vowed to bring them to justice. A federal investigation is now underway.
For Tesla’s part, the company has downplayed the incident as little more than a speed bump on its road to sustainable vehicle dominance across Europe. Mr. Musk’s stirring visit underscored his refusal to be intimidated.
Of course, the Berlin Gigafactory has been no stranger to controversy since its inception. Environmental activists have protested Tesla’s plans to expand the factory into a nearby forest, raising concerns over water supplies and biodiversity loss.
But Mr. Musk dismissed such objections on Wednesday, telling his employee crowd: “We are creating the future, one battery cell at a time!”
As the workday ended, the CEO was seen strolling the factory floor, pausing to take selfies and shake hands with cheering workers. His visit served as a defiant rallying cry – Tesla’s German operations are very much back in electric vehicle business.
