Tesla stopped work at its new manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China on Tuesday due to supply issues, according to a new report from Reuters. The facility, which typically aims to make 2,000 cars per day, only churned out about 200 on Tuesday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The electric vehicle company had only recently started production again at the facility following a 22-day shutdown thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai. Tesla, unlike many other companies, was allowed to resume production on April 19 after coordination with the Chinese Communist Party.
One of the companies that’s reportedly throwing a wrench in Tesla’s restart is Aptiv, according to Reuters, which also supplies General Motors. Aptiv has seen covid-19 hit its workforce and caused an unspecified number of its employees in China to fall ill.
China has taken a draconian approach to curtailing COVID-19 outbreaks, something that allowed the country to operate largely covid-free for several years. But the omicron variant of the virus has proved to be much harder to eliminate with strict lockdowns and mass testing, with at least 523 deaths from this current outbreak alone. China reported 3,426 new cases and six new deaths on Tuesday, according to BNO Newsroom.
The U.S., which officially has the largest death toll from COVID-19 in the world with 1 million dead, has also seen a recent uptick in cases. With just 27 of the 50 states reporting on Monday, the U.S. saw over 85,000 new cases and 218 new deaths. Hospitalizations are also on the rise with 118 Americans newly admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 on Monday, bring the total to 18,566 nationwide.
Tesla, which infamously does not have a press office because CEO Elon Musk is a 50-year-old man-child, did not respond to Gizmodo’s telepathic attempt to reach the company for comment. We’ll update this article if we get any vibes back.