Tesla is idle, upgrading a plant in Shanghai to increase production

SHANGHAI – Tesla Inc. plans to suspend most production at its plant in Shanghai in the first two weeks of July to work on upgrading the site, according to an internal note released by Reuters.

Following the upgrade, the American automaker aims to boost plant production to a new record high by the end of July to move closer to the target of producing 22,000 electric vehicles a week in Shanghai, the note said.

A two-month blockade of COVID in Shanghai has delayed Tesla’s initial plan to achieve production of 8,000 Model 3s and 14,000 Model Y a week at a plant in Shanghai by mid-May, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Shanghai factory produced 17,000 Model 3 and Model Y electric cars per week since mid-June, according to previous notes seen by Reuters.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Our limitations are much more related to raw materials and the ability to increase production,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg on Tuesday.

“We are increasing production capacity as quickly as possible,” he added.

Production at Shanghai’s Tesla plant is expected to decline by more than a third this quarter from the first three months of the year, as blockades in China without COVID-19 caused deeper production disruptions than Musk had predicted.

Last year, according to Reuters, which used data from the China Passenger Car Association, last year Tesla’s electric cars made in China, which sold locally and to foreign markets such as Europe and Australia, accounted for about half of the 936,000 cars. which she has delivered around the world.

Now customers in Australia will have to wait until the first quarter of 2023 for the Y model, while Europe may pick up their EVs only in the fourth quarter of this year, its website has revealed.

For buyers in China, the waiting time for Chinese Tesla EVs is 10 to 24 weeks, the website shows.