Not only private jets or luxury supercars, Tesla is also in the spotlight climate activists despite being an exclusive brand of electric cars. At least in Europe. Its Berlin factory has been the target of several attacks and now the Tesla Cybertruck.
A group of German environmentalists has sprayed the electric pick-up with orange paint while appearing in Hamburg shouting “a few rich people are driving armoured vehicles into disaster”.
“A senseless waste that we as a society cannot afford”
The Tesla Cybertruck has been touring Europe for months, even though this electric pickup truck will not be sold in the Old Continent. Last week it stopped in Germany and activists from Letzte Generation broke into the presentation to vandalize the electric pickup truck.
They did it Throwing paint on the Cybertruck in the style of Just Stop Oil, whose acts are already iconic thanks to the orange paint they sprayed on a private jet (believing it was Taylor Swift’s), the ancient monument of Stonehenge or Munch’s ‘The Scream’.
Cybertruck covered in paint in Hamburg
Electrical engineer Hendrik Fauer, who is taking part in today’s protest, explains:
1/5 pic.twitter.com/HAtn2xlrGU
— Last Generation (@AufstandLastGen) July 13, 2024
Letzte Generation has explained its reasons in a thread on Twitter and in a statement on its websiteMore specifically, Hendrik Fauer, an engineer participating in the protest, has described the Cybertruck as nonsense for an electric car:
“The Cybertruck weighs almost three tonsso its enormous weight means that consumes an absurd amount of energy. A senseless waste that we as a society cannot afford. Added to this is its bodywork full of sharp edges: a disaster for security“.
She added: “The electric pick-up perfectly illustrates where the anti-social policies of the last decades have led us: a few rich people drive armoured cars into disaster, dragging everyone else with them.” Another spokeswoman for these activists points out that it exemplifies “influential billionaires who fulfil their absurd fantasies at the expense of everyone else and then make money from it.”
“Killing machines every week.” This is the first time that radical environmentalists have vandalised a Tesla car: the protests had previously focused on its Berlin plant. Its construction site has already been the subject of controversy over the area where it was built.
It has also been the target of several attacks for its expansion, with some peaceful and others not so peaceful. For example, in March of this year, the electrical network of this factory was sabotaged by setting fire to a high-tension tower. This forced production to stop. “The dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth” said Elon Musk. The South African’s argument is that Tesla makes electric cars and has “good environmental objectives.” In May, they also broke into the plant.
Pero Vulkan Groupwho were the activists who set the network on fire, believes that “Tesla devours land, resources, people, labor and spits out 6,000 SUVs and monstrous killing machines every week”.
The latter is understood to be referring to the Cybertruck, although the Berlin plant currently only produces the Tesla Model Y. “Technofascist” is the term used to refer to Musk. Musk has not responded to this new attack on Twitter.
In any case, the protests have been of little use: Tesla has just received approval to expand its Gruenheide plant, which will allow it to increase production to one million cars a year, as well as batteries.
A mole that will not be sold in Europe because it is not legal. In addition to weighing around 3.0 tons, the Tesla Cybertruck is a behemoth that measures almost 5.7 m long and 2.0 m high, with a stainless steel body riddled with sharp edges.
This physiognomy does not comply with current European regulations due to the danger it poses to pedestrians and other vehicles: If Tesla wants to sell it, it will have to round off its edges“If you have an argument with another car, you will win,” Musk once boasted of his mammoth offspring.
The modification would be complicated to undertake, and above all expensive, so it is likely that it will not be profitable. In fact, the production of the Cybertruck is quite limited despite the millions of orders it has in the queue, because its panels take time to be moulded. Musk’s whim has also been a headache for the brand: “We dug our own grave with the Tesla Cybertruck.”
In addition, its panels are bulletproof and it can produce up to 845 hp in its most brutal variant, the three-motor Cyberbeast. This pick-up has already been criticized even by electric car advocates, although like other electric pick-ups it can make sense in the field or as a work vehicle.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
