During Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, Elon Musk mentioned that Gigafactory Shanghai is “coming back with a vengeance” after its three-week shutdown that began in late March. Recent photos of the Giga Shanghai complex and local reports now show that this is indeed the case.
Images reportedly taken from the Gigafactory Shanghai on April 20, 2022 showed the facility’s bins being refilled with freshly manufactured cars. Most of the vehicles photographed appeared to be Model Y, and videos from local media even showed car transporters hauling vehicles from the Gigafactory Shanghai. Needless to say, Tesla’s factory in China has definitely reawakened.
The first batch of Model Y’s after work resumes in GigaShanghai will be shipped out from the factory and shipped across the country! pic.twitter.com/CSzrdz8Tdg
— Chris Zheng (@ChrisZheng001) April 22, 2022
To restart vehicle production at Gigafactory Shanghai, Tesla China has adopted a closed-loop system similar to those adopted by other high-profile companies such as GM and CATL. Under the system, Giga Shanghai workers would temporarily live in the electric vehicle factory. Tesla would provide its workers with sleeping bags, mattresses, meals and a daily stipend while living in Giga Shanghai.
After Giga Shanghai reopened, reports surfaced that around 8,000 employees officially resumed work at the facility as it reopened its lines. Giga Shanghai’s battery and electric motor production lines were reportedly running at full speed soon after operations resumed, but the vehicle assembly line was still being gradually ramped up.
According to a recent South China Morning Post report, Tesla China has regained the ability to assemble about 1,000 vehicles per day. Granted, that’s only about half the facility’s previous pace, but it’s quite impressive given that the facility only reopened a few days ago. However, industry officials noted that Giga Shanghai’s component inventory could only support about a week’s production. This was highlighted by David Zhang, a researcher at North China University of Technology.
“A large car manufacturer like Tesla should have at least two weeks of production in normal operation. It will take some time before Shanghai-based automakers like Tesla, Volkswagen and General Motors can fully restore their supply chain and run at full capacity,” Zhang noted.
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Tesla Giga Shanghai ‘returns with a vengeance’ with fresh waves of Model Y
