Tesla’s Shanghai factory to remain closed amid Covid-19 restrictions

Tesla’s gigafactory in Shanghai, China will remain closed for one more amid the fresh round of restrictions imposed owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the city. In a company memo obtained by Bloomberg, Tesla reportedly told its employees on Sunday to stay at home the following day in order to comply with the restrictions imposed in the city.

An older report by Reuters indicated that the automaker aimed to resume production at its Shanghai factory on Monday, that is, March 4, as it expected its first batch of workers to be released from a lockdown owing to a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.

But now, plans to open the Shanghai plant have been cancelled and there is no word on when the company planned to resume production.

Tesla originally shut down its Shanghai gigafactory, which produces cars for the China market, on March 28, after the Chinese government launched a two-stage lockdown in areas east of the Shanghai’s Huangpu river where Tesla’s gigafactory is located. At the time, Tesla had aimed to keep the factory closed for just four days. However, it had to extend its plans for two more days on Friday and Saturday after the local authorities extended tight restrictions on the movement in the eastern part of the city. As of Monday, Tesla’s Shanghai factory has been closed for a week. Prior to this, Tesla had closed its gigafactory for two days on March 16 and March 17 as the country imposed restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 within its borders.

This was an *exceptionally* difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions & China zero Covid policy.

Outstanding work by Tesla team & key suppliers saved the day.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2022

Separately, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk in a tweet said that China’s zero-Covid policies made the first quarter “exceptionally difficult.” “This was an *exceptionally* difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions & China zero Covid policy…Outstanding work by Tesla team & key suppliers saved the day,” he wrote in a tweet.

The post Tesla’s Shanghai factory to remain closed amid Covid-19 restrictions appeared first on BGR India.