Tesla, violating government order, restarts California electric-car factory
FREMONT, California — Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter Monday that the company has restarted its California factory in violation of local government orders.
In the afternoon tweet, Musk wrote that he would be on the assembly line and asked that he be arrested if authorities take anyone into custody.
State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders.
The plant in Fremont, which is south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23 under orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Early Monday, the parking lot was nearly full at the massive plant, which employs 10,000 workers, and semis were driving off loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown.
The restart violates orders from the Alameda County Health Department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that can’t open under restrictions intended to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Alameda County Sheriff Sgt. Ray Kelly said Monday that any enforcement of the order would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county health officer. .
The Health Department said Saturday it was in talks with Tesla to reopen the plant safely.
The restart came two days after Tesla sued the county health department seeking to overturn its order, and Musk threatened to move Tesla’s manufacturing and headquarters out of California.
Tesla contends in the lawsuit that Alameda County can’t be more restrictive than orders from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The lawsuit says the governor’s coronavirus restrictions refer to federal guidelines classifying vehicle manufacturing as essential businesses that are allowed to continue operating.
“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk wrote in a now-deleted tweet. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.”
He wrote that whether the company keeps any manufacturing in Fremont depends on how Tesla is treated in the future.
On Monday, Newsom professed not to know if Tesla had reopened. “Not aware (of) the details of that,” he said.
“I have great expectations that we can work through at the county levels,” the governor said about conflicts involving the Fremont plant. He said county health directors are in charge of restrictions and the timing of any resumption of manufacturing.
The Bay Area order calls for limited return of business and manufacturing, with health restrictions, starting May 18, the same day as Detroit automakers plan to restart assembly plants.
“We look forward to many, many decades of that relationship” with Tesla, Newsom said.
The governor has repeatedly said that counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders. Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March.
Early in the coronavirus crisis, Newsom praised Musk as the “perfect example” of the private sector assisting the state in the pandemic.
His comments came after Musk pledged to provide more than 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals.