Electric Shock for Tesla: Production Halt at Grünheide Less Dramatic Than Feared

Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Director of the Center for Automotive Research, assesses the production stoppage at the new Tesla plant in Grünheide to be less dramatic than initially assumed by the company. Following an act of sabotage on the power supply, claimed by a left-wing extremist group, Dudenhöffer estimates financial damage to be around 100 million euros. This estimation contrasts the statements made by Tesla plant manager André Thierig, who anticipated losses in a significantly higher range – several hundred million euros – including the non-sellable vehicles. The production outage occurred after an arson attack on a power pylon critical to the Tesla plant and is expected to continue until the end of next week. From the perspective of generally weaker demand for electric vehicles, Dudenhöffer views this forced break as less critical. He points out that Tesla's plants in Shanghai and the USA are not running at full capacity, thus potentially compensating for the production shortfalls in Germany. For example, in February of this year, Tesla recorded a 22 percent decrease in new registrations in Germany compared to the same month the previous year. Additionally, Dudenhöffer provides insights into the energy infrastructure of car manufacturers. While Tesla relies on public electricity, Volkswagen generates the necessary power for its main plant in Wolfsburg in-house. Dudenhöffer views emergency generators as a possible transitional solution critically, as they cause not only procurement costs but also maintenance expenses.