Tesla’s mega car manufacturing plant in Fremont, California is to be partially opened today and the automaker’s CEO Elon Musk will be personally present there to assure a smooth re-opening of partial operations.
Re-opening decision came after California Governor Gavin Newsom released a guidance yesterday that allows certain businesses to restart their operations including the manufacturing and logistics sector, to this Elon Musk expressed his joy in response to the Governor’s tweet.
However, Tesla and Elon Musk have been cautious in re-opening the Fremont factory as he expresses concern for employee health and well-being in the following email he sent yesterday:
In light of Governor Newsom’s statement earlier today approving manufacturing in California, we will aim to restart production in Fremont tomorrow afternoon.
I will be on the line personally helping wherever I can. However, if you feel uncomfortable coming back to work at this time, please do not feel obligated to do so. These are difficult times, so thanks very much for working hard to make Tesla successful!
Source: Bloomberg
Additionally, Tesla’s Head of HR Valerie Workman also sent an email to employees stating that only 30% of the workforce will return to the Fremont factory to start limited production, this is roughly equal to one shift at the automaker’s only car manufacturing plant as of now.
As the Tesla Fremont car plant comes under the jurisdiction of the Alameda County, there will be significant involvement of the local government in reopening Tesla and other businesses in their area of authority.
Alameda County along with 6 other counties from California issued a joint statement after the Governor’s guidance was made public, according to this statement, the counties will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and may restrict business operations if there is a serious public health risk involved, the statement included the following:
Health officers will continue working in collaboration with local elected officials,community and business leaders to find ways to reopen more businesses and activities safely, while sustaining the progress we have made to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We appreciate that the Governor recognizes that California communities are impacted differently by coronavirus and can make decisions at the local level. In our current environment, if a county order differs from a state order, the more restrictive order takes precedence.
Before the suspension of production at the Tesla Fremont factory, Tesla had just started full speed production and deliveries of the Model Y Crossover SUV and the automaker has tons of pre-orders that need to be delivered this quarter.
Interestingly for the first time in Tesla history, a newly launched vehicle directly started having a good amount of per-unit profit as Tesla Model Y showed a contribution to the company’s Q1 2020 revenue and profit.
Update: Looks like Alameda County is not convinced that Tesla (TSLA) should start its business on Friday today, the county’s health officer just released the following statement on Tesla’s production status:
Looks like production at Tesla will commence next week, but the stock price already reached $817+ this morning, that’s even higher than what Elon Musk said is too high.
