Tesla Defers Plan to Restore Shanghai Production by a Week

 

Tesla Inc has put off a plan to resume production at its Shanghai plant to pre-Covid-19 lockdown levels by up to a week, an internal memo showed.

The US electric vehicle manufacturer originally sought to raise production levels at the Shanghai plant to about 2,600 cars per day from May 16, a company memo said earlier this month.

But the latest memo says the company plans to stick to one shift for its Shanghai plant for this week with a daily output of around 1,200 units. It also said it would aim to raise output to 2,600 units per day from May 23.

Challenges remain for Tesla to double the number of workers living and sleeping near production lines to maintain “closed-loop” operations, a person familiar with the matter said.

 

Supply, Logistics Concerns

Companies in Shanghai are only allowed to reopen if they can operate under such an arrangement, which requires workers to be isolated.

There are also uncertainties over supplies, as factories of suppliers and logistics in Shanghai and surrounding areas have yet to be restored to normal, the person added.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. The person declined to be identified as the matter is private.

On one day last week, Tesla operated its Shanghai plant well below capacity, indicating the problems factories face trying to ramp up output under a tightening Covid-19 lockdown.

Shanghai aims to reopen broadly and allow normal life to resume from June 1, a city official said on Monday, after declaring that 15 of its 16 districts had eliminated cases outside quarantine areas.

 

• Reuters with additional editing by  Jim Pollard

 

 

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