Tesla is facing an unexpected theft problem

Electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla is fed up with theft, though not of its cars.

German publication Handelsblattobtained audio recordings of a recent meeting between the head of Tesla’s German factory and its workforce, in which the staff members were accused of using their five-finger discount to pilfer coffee mugs from the Berlin plant.

“I’m just going to give you a figure,” said Andre Thierig, Tesla Giga Berlin’s Director of Manufacturing.

“We’ve bought 65,000 coffee mugs since we started production here. 65.000! Statistically speaking, each of you already has five Ikea coffee cups at home. I’m really tired of approving orders to buy more coffee cups.”

The disappearance of the coffee mugs is a small blip on Tesla’s radar, as the EV maker has bigger fish to fry in Germany where it continues to face resistance from both internal and external forces.

The company has long been at odds with German metalworking union IG Metall, with the latter previously accusing the EV brand of making its staff work longer hours and sign non-disclosure agreements with threat of retribution if these were broken.

Tesla has also been pushing for its Berlin factory to be expanded, which led to approximately 800 people from the Disrupt Tesla protest group attempting to storm the Grünheide factory in May.

Several protestors were taken into custody and an undisclosed number of participants were treated for injuries.

Just last week, climate change protesters poured orange paint over a Tesla Cybertruck at one of the company’s German showrooms, claiming the electric pickup is a waste of energy and a “safety disaster”.

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