Tesla’s Berlin factory comes back online as power is restored after arson attack

Production at Tesla’s factory near Berlin is gradually resuming after the plant was reconnected to the power grid late on Monday following a week-long closure caused by an arson attack.

Production at Tesla’s factory near Berlin is gradually resuming after the plant was reconnected to the power grid late on Monday following a week-long closure caused by an arson attack. “The lights are back on,” German energy network E.DIS told CNN late on Monday. “At 8:45 p.m. (local) the E.DIS grid control center was able to make the decisive switch… Since then, the power supply has been restored.” A group of far-left activists, calling themselves the “Volcano Group,” claimed it was behind the arson attack on an electricity pylon, which cut off the power supply to the Tesla (TSLA) plant early last Tuesday. Now production at the factory should be gradually ramped up, CNN affiliate RTL has reported. It is not yet possible to say when it will resume fully, RTL cited a Tesla spokesperson as saying Tuesday. Tesla had originally expected the shutdown to last until the end of this week, the German media outlet added. Still, the outage could be costly for Elon Musk’s company. The huge plant — located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of the German capital — is its only one in Europe and is currently capable of producing 375,000 electric vehicles a year. Prices in Germany for Model Y vehicles, the only cars manufactured at the factory, start at €44,990 ($49,196). That means a week of output is worth about €324 million ($354 million) in sales for Tesla.