In a tiny garage on the outskirts of Kyiv, a group of mechanics pored over the carcass of a wrecked old Tesla, stripping it of parts. But instead of trying to repair the car, the men were busy extracting its battery, hoping to use it to power local businesses and homes.
Their work — which can turn a single discarded Tesla into a dozen home battery systems — is one of myriad ways in which Ukrainian businesses are responding to the regular blackouts the country has faced since Russia launched a string of attacks on its energy grid earlier this year.
Russia has now knocked out or captured more than half of Ukraine’s domestic electricity generating capacity, forcing energy companies to impose rolling nationwide blackouts that have left homes and businesses without electricity for up to 20 hours a day.