After a tumultuous week, Alameda County officially announced that Tesla is officially going to be allowed to reopen the Fremont factory in a week if some changes are done.
As we previously reported, Elon Musk announced earlier this week that Tesla was restarting production at its Fremont factory despite contrary orders from Alameda County, which was still working to approve a plan to safely reopen the factory.
The county has asked Tesla to stop operations until the plan was approved.
Now Alameda County announced that Tesla is going to be allowed to “augment” its allowed minimum operations this week – leading to reopening of the factory on May 18 if everything goes well and Tesla implements new safety measures.
The county wrote in a statement:
“We reviewed the plan and held productive discussions today with Tesla’s representatives about their safety and prevention plans, including some additional safety recommendations. If Tesla’s Prevention and Control Plan includes these updates, and the public health indicators remain stable or improve, we have agreed that Tesla can begin to augment their Minimum Business Operations this week in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week. We will be working with the Fremont PD to verify Tesla is adhering to physical distancing and that agreed upon health and safety measures are in place for the safety of their workers as they prepare for full production. Next Monday, May 18th, marks two weeks following the May 4th Order loosening restrictions. Provided that the data show progress with our COVID-19 indicators during this two week period, we would allow additional approved activities for local businesses, including Tesla, as previously planned.”
In short, Tesla will be allowed to increase its operations at the plant this week leading to a restart of production next week if the situation doesn’t worsen before then and if Tesla meets all the safety requirements.
However, the automaker has already restarted production despite the county’s orders. It’s unclear if they plan to stop to respect this new order from the local officials.
Electrek’s Take
This all sounds fairly reasonable to me. Especially in the context that Elon has been hammering on Twitter that Tesla is “the only automaker that is not allowed to reopen production”, but in fact, both GM and Ford are also planning to reopen on May 18.
I can’t know for sure, but based on what county officials have been saying all along, it sounds like this was the plan to some degree for the past week.
Therefore, I don’t think that Tesla’s early reopening, lawsuit, and Elon’s call to be arrested if it comes to that were very productive.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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