Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional comments from Hamburg Police.
Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Saturday slammed climate activists who vandalized a Cybertruck on display at a Tesla Center in Hamburg, Germany.
What Happened: A video circulated on social media platform X shows two individuals vandalizing a Cybertruck on display with orange paint. The video was originally shared by the climate activist group Last Generation on Instagram.
“The Cybertruck weighs just under three tons, so it has an absurdly high energy consumption due to this enormous weight. Senseless waste that we cannot afford as a society," Electrical engineer Hendrik Fauer who took part in the protest said.
“The truck perfectly illustrates where the antisocial politics of the last decades have led us: Few rich people drive well-armored into the catastrophe – and take everyone with them,"
“If you genuinely care about the climate and ensuring the future is good, you do not attack the company that is demonstrably doing the most to accelerate the adoption of EVs and clean energy,” an X user wrote about the attack.
Musk on Saturday agreed with the user and said, “Absolutely.”
Hamburg police told in a statement to Benzinga that the incident occurred on Saturday morning. The two activists, aged 55 and 21, smeared the vehicle with orange paint and then displayed a banner that read” Armored into the catastrophe.” The investigation over the incident is ongoing, they added.
In another post reply, Musk also agreed that the activists are “morons.”
The Cybertruck is only on display in Germany and not for sale. The stainless steel truck is currently sold only in the U.S.
Why It Matters: Tesla has been on the wrong side of climate activists in Germany for the past few months over the proposed expansion of its factory in Brandenburg. The company aims to double the plant’s capacity for battery production to 100 gigawatt hours and car production to 1 million units annually.
Environmentalists, however, are concerned about the impact of the expansion on the area’s trees and water resources.
In May, several protestors attempted to storm the company’s factory and even injured several police officers in the ensuing clash. Several protestors were taken into police custody over the incident.
In March, an arson attack on the factory caused a power outage and halted production for about a week. Far-left activist organization Vulkan Group claimed the attack and said it was spurred by environmental concerns.
According to Tesla's first quarter report, the German factory currently has an installed annual vehicle capacity of 375,000 Model Y vehicles in addition to millions of battery cells.
Hamburg police did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment on the incident.
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Photo courtesy: Tesla
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