In Shanghai, Tesla’s Gigafactory is allowed to restart its assembly lines after about a month of closure linked to the city’s Zero Covid policy. But under very strange conditions…
For Tesla, the Shanghai Gigafactory is critically important when it comes to productivity. This factory indeed supplies the Asian market, but also the European one – in Model 3 only –, and constitutes one of its cornerstones to reach ever higher production figures.
For nearly a month, the Chinese site has been shut down due to a major epidemic outbreak within the country. With the authorities having implemented a strict Zero Covid policy, Tesla had to revise its plans and close its factory. Initially, it was only supposed to last a few days.
At the factory, 24 hours a day
Problem: the situation lasted for several weeks, with consequences for European customers. And it is only this Tuesday, April 19 that the Shanghai Gigafactory resumes service in accordance with a white list of 666 companies drawn up by Beijing. Except that this reopening is done under very specific conditions, explains Reuters.
Indeed, the workers will have to live directly on site to respect the process of ” closed loop management» put in place by the authorities. And this, in order to cut the slightest chain of contamination. Employees will therefore work, eat and sleep at the factory in order to restart the machine.
Other disruptions to expect
Admittedly, Tesla manages to move forward, but other problems inherent to Covid-19 still need to be resolved. As remindedElectrekdisruptions in supply lines and access to certain raw materials may still pose problems for the American manufacturer.
This clearly does not suit Tesla, which wants to reach one million electric cars produced in one year at all costs. For the moment, the American group is very well on track to complete this objective, but it should not be that other closures of this kind occur several times during the year.
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