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Tesla production halted at Giga Berlin after substation fire, arson suspected
Tesla Giga Berlin was forced to halt operations on Tuesday following a suspected arson attack on a nearby power substation. A left-wing extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The fire broke out early on Tuesday morning in the Steinfurt substation, which was near the Tesla plant. The attack resulted in Giga Berlin losing power and halting vehicle production. Employees were later evacuated from the site, as confirmed by a Tesla spokesperson to Reuters.
It was not just Giga Berlin that lost power due to the attack on the substation. As noted in a B-Z report, the Berlin districts of Rahnsdorf, Wilhelmshagen, and Müggelheim, as well as the Brandenburg towns of Erkner, Gosen-Neu-Zittau, Woltersdorf, and the Grünheid districts of Fangschleuse and Freienbrink were also affected by the attack. Some facilities in the Freienbrink industrial area, which is close to Giga Berlin, were also forced to stop operations.
Der Ministerpräsdient schloss auch nicht aus, dass es sich um eine Form des Terrorismus handeln könnte. "Sollte sich der Verdacht erhärten, wird der Generalbundesanwalt die Ermittlungen übernehmen müssen", so #Woidke. #Tesla @Tesla_Berlin 2/3— Staatskanzlei Brandenburg (@staatskanzleibb) March 5, 2024
Local authorities are currently investigating the incident, which Brandenburg police believe to be an act of arson. This was partly due to authorities finding a tent belonging to alleged eco-activists that was placed close to the site of the attack. The tent had a warning sign stating that explosive ordnance was buried in the area.
A group identified by German authorities as left-wing extremists, the “Vulkan Group,” has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group stated, “We sabotaged Tesla today” as a form of protest against the American car manufacturer. The group also noted that its aim is the “complete destruction” of Giga Berlin.
“We sabotaged Tesla today. Because Tesla in Grünau eats up earth, resources, people, labor and spits out 6,000 SUVs, killing machines and monster trucks per week. Our gift for March 8th is to shut down Tesla. Because the complete destruction of the Gigafactory and with it the sawing off of ‘technofascists’ like Elend (Elon) Musk are a step on the path to liberation from patriarchy,” the group wrote in a letter that was posted on kontrapolis.info.
These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.
Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024
The attack on the power substation has received widespread criticism. Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) referred to the incident as a “malicious attack” on the area’s electricity infrastructure. He also noted that there would be consequences for the attack.
“If the initial findings are confirmed, this will constitute a malicious attack on our essential electricity infrastructure. Such an act will have consequences. Thousands of people have been deprived of basic services and potentially put at risk. The constitutional state will respond to this act of sabotage with the utmost severity,” the minister noted.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also commented on the incident. “These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals. Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
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The Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by the company’s CEO Elon Musk, who has been a big reason the product has such high expectations due to delayed timelines and a constant need to make it even more insane than before.
Tesla announced on September 12 that it would officially unveil the Roadster in Waco, Texas, on October 1, ending years of patience for fans and reservation holders who have waited for the all-electric supercar to enter production since 2017.
Musk has said that this event will be well worth the wait on several occasions, and last year on the Joe Rogan Experience, he said that there should be a closing chapter to supercars- the end of cars that aren’t focused on safety.
He said:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one. I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”
Musk’s teases have continued, and now that the event is roughly two weeks away, it seems like Roadster is finally going to show up and blow some minds:
It’s out of this world
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2026
Excitement guaranteed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2026
Tesla has definitely dragged out the development of the Roadster, but there is a good reason for it.
Tesla has been working on many other projects, most notably self-driving efforts to increase passenger safety, and those simply took priority over the Roadster, a low-volume, high-performance sports car that has a lightning-fast acceleration rate of 0-60 MPH in just 1.1 seconds, could potentially fly, and contributes very little to the company’s mission.
However, many people have the Roadster on pre-order through the referral program or with their own money, and it is time that Tesla delivers on that.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
Elon Musk’s Boring Company says Vegas Loop stations will double by year end once again.
The Boring Company says the Vegas Loop’s station count will double by the end of the year, tying the target to a hiring push for drivers and operations managers in Las Vegas. “Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!” the company wrote in a post on X, attaching listings for a Loop driver and a senior Loop operations manager.
The number checks out against what’s already public, with the Vegas Loop currently running 14 operational stations, while the Boring Company’s own project page lists 28 as the target for the end of 2026.
Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!
Urgently hiring exceptional and enthusiastic Drivers and Ops Managers.
Apply here!
Driverhttps://t.co/ZUPXBYTONb
Senior Loop Ops Managerhttps://t.co/mV6V22V8jH pic.twitter.com/IZ9FqIw8WY
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) September 14, 2026
Much of that growth is tied to tunnels that are already built and waiting on an opening date. A roughly two-mile dual tunnel system under Paradise Road, connecting Westgate to a planned station at 4744 Paradise Road, is expected to open in stages over the coming weeks, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill told the Review-Journal last week. New stations at 4744 Paradise, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and the former Gordon Biersch site would come online with it, several of them built to speed up rides to Harry Reid International Airport ahead of Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Clark County entitled Vegas Loop for 123 stations after approving 19 more in August, as Teslarati reported at the time. Entitlement and construction move at different speeds on this project, so county approval alone does not guarantee a station opens on any particular schedule.
Clark County approved 18 additional stations back in 2023, part of a plan that pushed the system’s target to 69 stations across 65 miles, doubling the network on paper for the first time. The target kept climbing after that, to roughly 93 stations by the end of that year and 104 by last year, before August’s vote pushed it to 123. This week’s announcement is the first time that doubling language has been attached to stations actually running rather than stations merely approved on a county map.
Ridership gives some sense of what a denser network could carry. Boring Company executive Mike Baier said in July that the Vegas Loop already moves around 40,000 passengers on busy convention days, a total that tops most light rail systems in the country despite the system running on a fraction of its planned tunnel mileage. Company leadership has projected ridership could triple or quadruple once the airport connector tunnels fully open.
Boring Company did not say which stations beyond those already under construction would open by year end, or whether the hiring push points to a fleet expansion alongside the new stops.
Tesla is looking to expand into a new Asian market, strengthening its presence in a region that has been bullish on electric vehicles as a whole.
Tesla officially filed to establish a subsidiary of its business in Vietnam, a report from Reuters suggests. Tesla named the entity “Tesla Motors Vietnam Limited Liability Company.”
The planned entrance into the Vietnamese market is a good sign and move for Tesla, as it has become one of the fastest-growing EV markets in Southeast Asia. It is already among the leaders in the region in both volume and electrification rate. In the first half of this year, Vietnam led Southeast Asia in battery-electric passenger car sales at about 116,000 units, up about 71 percent year over year.
Currently, Vietnamese EV drivers rely on VinFast’s V-Green network, which has about 150,000 ports, but these are primarily reserved for VinFast vehicles. Public third-party charging is fragmented and unreliable for those who do not own chargers that are dedicated to a certain manufacturer’s vehicles.
Tesla has had mixed results in Asia as a whole, and as China remains the core part of its story in Asia, the company is evidently working on expanding its footprint on the continent. Tesla’s domestic retail deliveries fell about 12 percent year over year through the first eight months of 2026.
Model Y remains a standout individual product, holding its position as one of, if not the, best-selling vehicles in the world. However, Model 3 has been weaker than it has been in past years.
Gigafactory Shanghai, the company’s Chinese production facility, still performs very well. Wholesale volumes in terms of exports have more than doubled and now exceed domestic retail sales; Giga Shanghai builds vehicles for Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other markets. South Korea has been an explicit bright spot, with registrations doubling year-to-date and Tesla frequently appearing as the top imported brand.
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s entrance into Vietnam signals a broader effort to take over the Asian market and grab more market share from rivals.
Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
