California Won’t Allow Tesla to Restart Production

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently declared that manufacturing work is restarting in the state, prompting Tesla to also gear up to resume its production the way other automakers in Detroit are doing.

According to a Reuters report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to its employees, saying that its lone production plant in the United States located in Fremont, California will reopen once stay-at-home orders are lifted. The email also states that operations will resume with 30% staff levels per shift and that Musk does not require employees to return to work if they are not comfortable.

Musk also expressed his support for Newsom’s declaration. It is worth noting that the Tesla head previously referred to stay-at-home orders as “fascist.”

Shortly after, however, another Reuters report said the Alameda County Public Health Department has not given Tesla the go signal to resume production work at its Fremont facility. Erica Pan, health officer for the county, told the news organization that the county has not said it is “appropriate to move forward” and that officials are still working with the automaker.

Moreover, the entire county of Alameda is scheduled to keep its stay-at-home order in place until the end of the month, which could mean Tesla will have to wait longer before it can allow workers back to the production line.

Tesla was among several automakers in the U.S. to temporarily close its doors in an effort to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. The company shut down its Fremont plant on March 24, but not before figuring in a debacle with local, state, and federal officials regarding shelter-in-place rules.

While its U.S. facility stopped production, Tesla’s Shanghai plant continued to operate until it reportedly went offline last week due to shortages in components.

Tesla was ramping up deliveries of its new Model Y when it stopped operations in March.