Alameda County Will Allow Tesla To Reopen Fremont Factory If Certain Conditions Met

Tesla Inc. TSLA will be allowed to reopen its Fremont car factory by Alameda County, if they meet certain conditions.

What Happened

Alameda County officials asked Tesla to stop production on Tuesday but reversed course after discussions with the company's representatives, the County Sheriff's office tweeted a statement early Wednesday.

Alameda County Update on Tesla, May 12: We received Tesla’s site-specific Fremont COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan yesterday as anticipated. A site-specific plan is a part of the Governor’s guidance for reopening manufacturing. pic.twitter.com/KsooDIKUYG
— Alameda County Public Health Department (@Dare2BWell) May 13, 2020

The Sheriff's office further stated, "If Tesla’s Prevention and Control Plan includes these updates, and the public health indicators remain stable or improve, we have agreed that Tesla can begin to augment their Minimum Business Operations this week in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week."

A letter sent by Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director Colleen Chawla early Tuesday asked Tesla to limit operations to basic functions at its Fremont manufacturing facility until the county and the automaker could agree on a plan to reopen the shuttered factory, was ignored by the company, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

Chawla had demanded a site-specific plan to be submitted the same day and wrote, “We will review that plan once we receive it and will schedule time to review our feedback with you within 24 hours.”

Why It Matters

There has been no confirmation from the county if Tesla is going to halt production until the required updates are made, according to the Chronicle.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla wrote an email to his employees on Tuesday, congratulating them on the reopening and saying, “An honest day’s work spent building products or providing services of use to others is extremely honorable.”

The Tesla co-founder and Alameda County were at loggerheads over the reopening of the Fremont situated car factory, and Musk, in an act of open defiance of the local authorities’ orders, challenged them to arrest him for restarting production.