Tesla Restarts Production At Shanghai Gigafactory As Coronavirus Threat Continues

Tesla has resumed operations at its gigafactory in Shanghai after production was halted due to the coronavirus outbreak. While Shanghai is not the epicenter of the viral outbreak, there have been about 300 people in Shanghai infected with the virus. Tesla , alongside many other car manufacturers and other companies throughout China, called a halt to their local production operations to try and stop the spread. Many factories could remain closed for at least three more weeks, NBC News reports, but Tesla is clearly very eager to restart operations at Giga Shanghai to continue local production and deliveries of the all-electric Model 3. Related: Toyota To Keep Chinese Production Paused Until February 17 A series of images shared online by Tesmanian earlier this week showed a number of Tesla employees being bused into the local factory wearing face masks and ready to restart production. It is claimed that all employees were checked for the virus before being cleared to return to work. Global Times points out that while the factory is back up and running, production will probably be somewhat limited to start with as the automaker may face parts shortages from Chinese suppliers that are still closed. Tesla China vice president Tao Lin recently took to local social media Weibo to state Model 3 deliveries initially scheduled for early February have been delayed. It’s difficult to determine when Tesla’s Chinese production will ramp back up to pre-coronavirus numbers as it all depends on how quickly the virus is contained and when suppliers can re-open their own factories.