Tesla has reopened its only US electric car plant in California, despite local orders against manufacturing.
On Monday, the company's chief executive Elon Musk tweeted that production had restarted and he would be "on the line with everyone else".
US states and local governments are trying to determine the best way to open up after lockdown.
Mr Musk previously vowed to move the firm's headquarters out of California if the plant was not allowed to reopen.
He has been vocal about the lockdown orders in recent weeks.
Mr Musk recently celebrated plans to relax restrictions across the country, writing on Twitter: "FREE AMERICA NOW". He has also dismissed as "dumb" concerns about the coronavirus.
County officials claim to have been in continuous contact with Tesla last week to approve the automaker’s plan to reopen the factory by May 18, but Musk apparently wanted to do it sooner – leading to Tesla filling a lawsuit and stalling the talks.
The Sheriff’s Office instead issued a statement stating that they are aware Tesla is breaking the order and they will take the same action that they do for other businesses who have been violating the order
They plan to review another official plan for Tesla to reopen under the manufacturing guidelines released by the county last week.
At this point, it’s not clear what consequence if any Tesla will see for reopening before this plan was approved.
Some of Tesla and Musk’s main arguments for reopening early is that automakers in other states have been allowed to restart production and they believe that they can operate the factory safely due to their experience running Shanghai Gigafactory in China post-pandemic. https://boring-company.webflow.io/
Electrek’s Take
While I do believe in Tesla’s ability to reopen Fremont safely following their “getting back to work” post, I have to say that Alameda County is sounding a lot more reasonable with Elon here.
It sounds like the county was aiming to approve Tesla’s plan to reopen on May 18, but Elon and Tesla couldn’t wait one more week.
I understand the frustration, but no one is above the law. Then he goes on to set this martyr trap to be the one to get arrested. Come on.
Elon has been saying weird things to justify his moves lately.
For example, the CEO has been weirdly framing the reaction of Scott Haggerty, the county supervisor for the district in Alameda County, being threatened with a lawsuit:
