By
Svetlana Soroka
April 18th, 2024
Elon Musk has always had a very negative opinion about the coronavirus-related shutdown orders. Now he wants to relocate Tesla operations from California to other states. Meanwhile, TSLA stock went up on Friday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday he decided to file a lawsuit against Alameda County. He also said that he could relocate Tesla’s headquarters and all its future programs to Texas or Nevada immediately, intensifying a quarrel between the company and United States health officials over whether the factory in Fremont can start working. Just for reminder, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) wanted to bring back around 30% of its factory workers on Friday as part of its reopening plan, defying Alameda County’s stay-at-home order.
Meanwhile, TSLA stock on Friday managed to jump over 5% to $819.42. After hours it lost $0.42 to reach $819.00. Though it is still nor an all-time high for Tesla, the stock seems to be rather strong today. A month ago it was trading at around $650. It means that the stock gained nearly 20 within 30 days.
Tesla Used to Be Cooperative but Then Decided to File a Lawsuit
Alameda County Health Care Services Agency and the Public Health Department responded with a statement saying that the agencies “have been communicating directly and working closely with the Tesla team on the ground in Fremont.” The agencies called it a “collaborative, good faith effort to develop and implement a safety plan that allows for reopening while protecting the health and well-being of the thousands of employees who travel to and from work at Tesla’s factory.”
The officials said Tesla has been receptive to their guidance and recommendations and look forward to coming to an agreement.
California Governor Gavin Newsom issued new guidance Thursday that allowed producers to continue operations. The guidance was highly praised by Musk, who later sent an internal email to employees regarding plans to reopen based on the governor’s adjusted order. Still, the governor’s guidance contained a caution that local governments could keep more limiting rules in place. Alameda County, along with some other Bay Area counties and cities, last week prolonged the stay-at-home orders until the end of May. The orders were adjusted and did alleviate some of the restrictions.
Still, it did not lift the order for manufacturing.
On Friday, the Alameda County Health Department said Tesla didn’t get a “green light” to start working again and added that if the company did, it would be out of consent with the law.
In his tweet, Musk announced Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. In a later tweet, he also heartened its shareholders to file a lawsuit against the county.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Tesla Factory Relocation Depends on How the Company Will Be Treated in Future
Musk then went on with another tweet saying Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas or Nevada immediately.
He wrote:
“If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”
City of Fremont Mayor Lily Mei commented on Saturday Musk’s tweets saying she is being pretty much concerned about the possible connotations for the regional economy if there are not supplies for major manufacturing companies such as Tesla to start-over operations under the shelter-in-place order.
She said:
“As we have done for over a decade, the City is prepared to support Tesla as soon as they are able to resume automobile manufacturing operations and are committed to a thoughtful, balanced approach to this effort that remains safe for our Fremont community.”
Currently, Tesla operates in Nevada; not in Texas, even though Musk’s other company SpaceX has operations there. The company’s huge battery factory – known as Gigafactory 1, is located in Sparks, Nevada. Tesla is searching for a new location to build a new U.S. gigafactory that will produce the Cybertruck and Model Y crossover. Some have the idea that Texas is one of the main choices.
Allegedly, Tesla is in talks with Nashville officials to put a factory there that will produce the Cybertruck and Model Y crossover.