Tesla’s Shanghai factory was closed for a while due to Covid lockdowns
The factory is now operating at slightly over 80% of its capacity
Elon Musk says that the Shanghai plant will be able to match its Q1 production figures despite losing about a month’s worth of production
Tesla recently said that its Chinese Gigafactory in Shanghai is now back up and running, with a current production rate that is slightly over 80% of its total capacity.
The Shanghai Gigafactory had to close for an extended period due to the high number of Covid-19 cases in the region, but the automaker has now been granted permission to bring its workers back to work.
This is because the Chinese government “whitelisted” around 2,000 businesses in order to have them resume production in the hopes of improving the difficult economic situation brought by the halt of all manufacturing operations in the city.
Since the Covid-19 situation in Shanghai is still concerning, Tesla is operating the factory in a closed loop system, where employees actually live in the plant where they work, thus minimising their risks of contracting the illness and forcing another shutdown.
When production restarted on April 19, 8,000 workers were welcomed back to work, most of them operating the battery and motor division, which has apparently resumed full production almost immediately.
According to the automaker, the lockdowns have accounted for about a month’s worth of production losses, which will foil the plans that called for a sales increase in the second quarter of the year.
Nevertheless, Elon Musk says he is confident the Shanghai factory will be able to match its production figures from the first quarter of 2022 and he believes the increasing production should be met in the last two quarters of the year, provided the situation stays the same, of course.
