The German Tesla plant fire is claimed by far-left ‘Volcano Group’

A group of left-wing extremists has claimed responsibility for the suspected arson attack that shut down the Tesla Gigafactory outside of Berlin on Tuesday.

The group, which calls itself “Vulkangruppe Tesla Abschalten” (also known as “Vulcan Group” or “Volcano Group”), said in a statement posted to Kontrapolis.info that it aimed to cause “the largest possible blackout of the Gigafactory,” citing environmental and labor concerns as motivations behind the attack. (Google Translate was used to translate the letter from German to English. All quotes in this article are from that translation.)

Production was halted at the factory after the attack on a nearby electricity pylon cut power to the facility. Reuters reports that production isn’t expected to resume until “at least early next week,” with the outage reportedly costing Tesla estimated losses in the “high hundred of millions of euros.” On X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk condemned the attack, referring to Volcano Group as “the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth.”