Electric car maker Tesla is preparing to restart some car production in Fremont, potentially in violation of local and state shelter-in-place orders, The Chronicle has learned.
Some workers returned to the company’s Fremont plant Wednesday to prepare for a planned reopening of some production lines between now and next week, according to a person familiar with factory operations who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. The person was granted anonymity in accordance with The Chronicle’s anonymous source policy.
The person said only a handful of employees have returned to the factory floor for now to prepare and that additional safety measures have been put in place at the factory to guard against coronavirus transmission.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for the Fremont Police Department, which is responsible for the area that includes the plant, said there were no plans to visit the site when informed by The Chronicle of the partial return to work.
“We’re all sort of in a little bit of a gray area,” said department spokeswoman Geneva Bosques, referring to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement this week that some some retail, manufacturing, and logistics businesses would soon be allowed to operate on a limited basis if they take safety measures and local authorities approve.
Bosques acknowledged that under the current Alameda County health order, Tesla cannot operate its manufacturing line but added that “having a small team of people in there (who) are social distancing may not violate the health order.”
Officers from the Fremont Police Department made two previous visits to the factory in April and observed minimum basic operations, like maintenance allowed under the health order. Tesla was not cited for any violations, Bosques said.
Tesla had previously openly defied the Alameda County shelter-in-place order when it was first instituted on March 17, operating for nearly a week before sending workers home. Authorities had ruled the plant was a nonessential business under the health order.
That order, which was extended and is sstill in effect, prohibits “manufacturing or assembly of nonessential products.”
Some Tesla workers received word over the last weekend in April that they would be returning to work the following week, but the company retracted those orders.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has strongly criticized the economic restrictions put in place to fight the coronavirus. Musk decried the stay-at-home orders as “fascist” during a recent call with investors and has taken to Twitter to demand the immediate reopening of the U.S. economy.
Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice
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