Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, says new Gigafactories in Texas and Berlin are "losing billions of dollars" as they struggle with production due to a shortage of batteries and China port issues.
In an interview with 'Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley', an official Tesla-recognised club based in Austin, Texas, Musk said "both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. Okay? It's really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire."
Musk says the company's Texas factory has faced challenges in increasing production, and therefore only produces a "tiny" amount of cars. He says it has had trouble producing its new 4680 batteries and the tools to make its conventional 2170 batteries are "stuck in port in China".
"This is all going to get fixed real fast, but it requires a lot of attention," he said.
READ MORE
He said that the Berlin factory, which opened in March this year, is in a "slightly better position" because it started using the traditional 2170 batteries for cars built there.
The company said in March that the Berlin Gigafactory would employ 12,000 people and produce 500,000 vehicles a year once it's entirely up and running.
Musk attributed a lot of the problems the company is facing to the COVID-19-related shutdowns in Shanghai. He said they "were very, very difficult" for the company.
The shutdown affected production not only at Tesla's Shanghai factory but also at its California plant, which uses parts made in China.
"The past two years have been an absolute nightmare of supply chain interruptions, one thing after another, and we're not out of it yet," Musk said.
He said Tesla is very concerned about the possibility of going bankrupt. "How do we keep the factories operating so we can pay people and not go bankrupt?"
Earlier this month, Musk said he had a "super bad feeling" about the economy and that the company needed to cut staff by about 10 percent and "pause all hiring worldwide." Then, earlier this week, he said a 10 percent cut in salaried staff at Tesla will occur over three months.
The fate of the high-anticipated and highly-delayed Cybertruck remains unknown, but Musk said he expected Tesla would start production of its electric utes in mid-2023.