California and Tesla go together… like a state that’s focused on the environment and a maker of very clean cars.
But Tesla founder Elon Musk’s California dream has turned into a nightmare as the state’s stay-home orders look like keeping the brand’s Fremont factory shut until June, while carmakers in other parts of the US prepare to resume operations as early as next week.
Musk has filed a lawsuit against the Alameda County Health Department, accusing it of ignoring federal and state Covid-19 restrictions by preventing Tesla’s Fremont factory from reopening. The San Francisco Bay Area closed the plant on March 23 along with other businesses.
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Musk has gone tweet-tastic over the clash: "Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant “Interim Health Officer” of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!"
Musk also tweeted that Tesla will move its administration out of California immediately - and potentially its production as well: "Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA."
Clearly, Musk was too angry to spell-check before tweeting. But he may now have had time to reflect on the reality of shifting the Fremont plant’s current production to another location: industry experts agree that such a move would take well over a year.
Away from Twitter, the CEO also reportedly labelled the stay-home orders "fascist" in a first-quarter earnings call with investers earlier in the year.
Fremont, a facility formerly owned by General Motors and Toyota, is Tesla’s main factory and one of only two that produces Tesla vehicles. The other is in China.
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