Tesla’s factory in Grünheide, Germany, has resumed power since Monday evening, as confirmed by an internal email from the electric car manufacturer.
According to the email, repair work carried out by the power supplier Edis was completed “faster than originally planned,” reports Handelsblatt.
Andre Thierig, Senior Director, Manufacturing Giga Berlin, confirmed this news on LinkedIn, saying on Monday, “Lights ON! 💡 The power supply to the Gigafactory has been restored for a few minutes. Now, under all safety precautions, the measures for the restart are in full swing. It will certainly take some time before we have fully resumed production, but the most important step has been taken! Power ON! ⚡️⚡️⚡️”
“Many thanks to E.DIS for the quick recommissioning and to all those involved and especially to our employees for their support over the last few days,” said Thierig.
This development follows last week’s arson attack on a power pylon, approximately ten kilometers from the factory, which disrupted the facility’s electricity supply. The attack was claimed by a far-left activist group known as “Vulkangruppe.”
With power restored, Tesla can now ramp up production in the Grünheide factory. Experts estimate that the resumption of full production will not take longer than a day. Handelsblatt reports that Tesla’s production in Grünheide is expected to operate at full capacity from Wednesday.
Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Jörg Steinbach, highlighted the efforts of the companies involved in the repair work in a radio interview on Monday morning. He commended their round-the-clock efforts to restore the power supply.
Thierig initially estimated the revenue loss to be in the “high nine-figure range.” However, the damage is now calculated to be around 400 million euros, approximately half of the initial estimate. This loss is attributed to the halted production of about 1,000 Model Y vehicles per day, each valued at around 50,000 euros, resulting in Tesla being unable to produce about 8,000 Model Ys. Ouch.
Thierig had apparently expected a longer outage, as suggested by the internal email obtained by Handelsblatt.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reported to personally visit the Gigafactory near Berlin on Wednesday morning, according to Table Media, and is likely to meet Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke and Minister of Economic Affairs Steinbach.
Tesla’s engineers are already addressing the challenges of restarting production. The primary issues are in the body shop, where robots need to be removed from unfinished bodies and reset to their starting positions.
Unfinished bodies, as well as those stuck in corrosion protection baths or paint jobs, will also need to be scrapped. Tesla will have to scrap approximately 40 unfinished vehicles.
Following the restart, Tesla will implement what experts call “first-piece approval,” ensuring quality control in production, which, according to Berylls partner Heiko Weber, will take “at least one day for the complete restart.”
