Tesla has resumed production at its gigafactory in Fremont, California, in defiance of local officials.
While California has eased its stay-at-home restrictions to allow manufacturing to resume, officials in Alameda County, where the plant is located, have so far not given permission for it to reopen. That prompted Tesla to file a lawsuit against county officials over the weekend.
Staff have now return to work at the site, with production resuming yesterday (Monday). Production has been halted since mid-March, when officials issued a stay-at-home order to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Tesla initially wanted to keep the plant open, but county officials ruled that car production was a “non-essential business”. The Model 3 and new Model Y are both built at the facility.
On Twitter, company boss Elon Musk said: "Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me."
A statement from Alameda County officials said: "We learned that the Tesla factory in Fremont had opened beyond Minimum Basic Operations. We have notified Tesla that they can only maintain Minimum Basic Operations until we have an approved plan that can be implemented in accordance with the local public health order.
"We are addressing this matter using the same phased approach we use for other businesses which have violated the order in the past, and we hope that Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures."
While several neighbouring counties have lifted restrictions, Alameda County officials have yet to give permission for the plant to reopen. That prompted Tesla to file a lawsuit against the county in San Francisco Federal Court last weekend. In the filing, Tesla called the restrictions a “power grab” by county officials that contravened the California governor’s statement that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen.
In a statement issued on its website, Tesla said that it has informed officials in Alameda County about its restart plans, and working with the county’s public health agency on steps to guarantee the safety of its workers. These include online training, temperature screening, partitioned work zones, rigorous cleaning and the use of personal protective equipment.
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scrap
Musk deserves credit for
Musk deserves credit for bringing Tesla profile and focus, but I think there is now an argument for him to go as his increasingly erratic behaviour is doing them no favours.
He didn't start the company but was an early investor and quickly became chairman. Tesla have achieved a great amount, but the ridiculous Cybertruck seems so off brand to me, and no one outside the company says the Semi is credible.
Peter Cavellini
A semi?
That means something else here in the UK.....lads?!
Peter Cavellini
The UK.
Boris should offer him an empty factory site here, because as things are going down South there's going to be a lot of empty ones!
scotty5
It's a zero out of ten for management skills.
Rather odd that if you want to start your business a.s.a.p. you should start a legal case against someone. Who knows, in two or three years time, the courts might find in favour of him.
And it's also rather odd that whilst the factory is closed, you say you're going to move your HQ to another state. Is that to say you're telling your current workforce they're sacked?
The bloke is a certified nutcase. He's like Trump in that he has no experience of being told what to do and when he is, and knows there's othing he can do about it, throws the toys out the pram.
Of course he never wanted to close the factory in the first place. He wrote backon 19 th March that by end of April there would be few if any new cases of the virus in the US. Well that date has come and gone and the fact is that by the end of April, there were just over 1,000,000 virus cases recorded in the USA ( 1.34m as of today 10th May ).
There's another target missed Elon but you're used to that.
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