Blog Tesla Will Move HQ Out of California After Fight Against Health Order

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter Saturday that the company will move its headquarters and “future operations” out of California. Additionally, Tesla plans to file a lawsuit against Alameda County over a health order that shut down the Fremont, Calif. facility.

Tesla planned to return to production on Friday, however Alameda County’s interim public health officer, Dr. Erica Pan said that Tesla must keep the plant closed until the county lifts restrictions in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Musk said the suit will be filed “immediately.” He called Pan “ignorant” for keeping the restrictions in place despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom loosening the stay-at-home order.

“This is the final straw,” Musk tweeted. “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.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1259162367285317633

The tweet suggests that Tesla’s next factory is set to be built in Texas. Musk has teased the Lone Star State as the home for the next factory and an announcement was expected soon.

Tesla’s factory in Fremont has 5.3 million square feet of manufacturing and office space on 370 acres of land, with plans to expand to 10 million square feet, according to the company’s website.

There are 10,000 employees at the Fremont factory who build the Tesla Model S, Model X, and Model 3.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Tesla has long been moving future operations outside of California.
Nevada, Upstate New York, Shanghai, Germany, and likely Texas.

 

[Bucfan11]

You reap what you sow. California will run off most of it's working class and companies. It is hard to have sympathy for Musk though. California has been like this for a decade now. Hopefully he will move SpaceX out too! Bring it to Florida! We appreciate the business.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

You reap what you sow. California will run off most of it's working class and companies. It is hard to have sympathy for Musk though. California has been like this for a decade now. Hopefully he will move SpaceX out too! Bring it to Florida! We appreciate the business.

SpaceX is growing in Boca Chica, TX.

Besides, Florida probably has too many old people for his liking to want to go there.

 

[Bucfan11]

SpaceX is growing in Boca Chica, TX.

Besides, Florida probably has too many old people for his liking to want to go there.

Elon don't like old people?

 

[glide]

Good. Now they can deliver vehicles with decent paint jobs.

 

[RiverBrick]

It seems odd to complain that Tesla is being treated unfairly by California, then mention moving to Texas in the same breath.

Would Tesla exist today without CARB ZEV credits? (Despite the many problems with the Air resources board.)

 

[aaron0k]

Maybe Musk is mad that Gavin stopped lavishing him with praise in every press briefing? Ever since the 'those aren't really ventilators' embarrassment. Hope he doesn't calling Newsom a 'pedo guy'.

I feel bad for Grimes. She has two babies to feed now... one with milk, the other with ego.

 

[Uncle Paul]

People go where they are appreciated....especially rich people.

 

[Brovane]

Maybe Musk is mad that Gavin stopped lavishing him with praise in every press briefing? Ever since the 'those aren't really ventilators' embarrassment. Hope he doesn't calling Newsom a 'pedo guy'.

#1- Newson claimed Tesla hadn't delivered any ventilators to hospitals in CA when Tesla actually had delivered ventilators to Hospitals who asked for them and confirmation from hospitals in CA saying they had been delivered. Musk went out and bought these ventilators in China and had them sent to CA at no cost to the state. Newson then turns around and kicks Musk in the balls. Not a great way to say thanks.

#2- A CPAP/BiPAP machine is a ventilator, just a non-invasive one. You have invasive and non-invasive ventilators. Musk had bought both types in China.

 

[RichardL]

Thing is, the HQ is not in Alameda county, which is the problem authority. So that would be little punishment for them.

 

[dmode]

Elon is so mad at regulations in California that he will be opening a factory in China - paragon of freedom, and one in Germany - a paragon of corporate welfare. Makes sense

 

[uujjj]

California has been EXCEEDINGLY good to Tesla for a long time. California leaders (business and political) were supporting Tesla when it was a tiny little startup. There was Gov. Schwarzenegger at the original company launch in 2006, putting down a deposit for his own Tesla. There was Gov. Brown at the start of the factory. The investor community. The early adopters who bought Tesla cars. If Tesla had been based anywhere else the company would never have gotten off the ground. Texas? Texas would have murdered young Tesla in its cradle.

Now Tesla is a big company. California is friendly to little startups but not so friendly to big companies; we all know this. In the meantime, Elon has gone from a scrappy entrepreneur to a narcissistic billionaire industrialist. Threats, demands, insults, no sense of appreciation for what he's got or all the people he used in order to get it.

 

[uujjj]

Can you imagine the tantrum Musk would have thrown if the Shanghai plant were in Wuhan instead? Lots of car factories in Wuhan. It would have been closed for 2 1/2 months. Fremont's been closed for 6 weeks and Dr. Erica Pan indicated they'd re-evaluate it in just a week. Elon's tantrum is crazy!

 

[uujjj]

Tesla has 15000 employees in the Bay Area. Tesla's secret sauce is in the minds of those 15000 workers, not in Elon's inflated ego. If Tesla really does leave (which is less likely than Elon makes it sound), there's going to be a bonanza for new automotive and greentech startups in California.

 

[Brovane]

Fremont's been closed for 6 weeks and Dr. Erica Pan indicated they'd re-evaluate it in just a week. Elon's tantrum is crazy!

I wonder how the negotiations actually went? Was it basically one sided with no give on the counties part?

The CEO added that Tesla has been able to keep operating its castings foundry and other facilities in San Joaquin County, which located next to Alameda, despite the shelter-in-place orders.

No wonder Musk is frustrated if right next to the factory they can keep running producing castings.

Dr Pan would have been smarter to allow Tesla to open at reduced capacity, say only 20% employees allowed. With several inspections by county officials to make sure that social distancing was being maintained.

 

[uujjj]

I think the way negotiations actually went was that Elon got on the phone, started cussing and spewing conspiracy theories from the internet, and Dr. Pan's crew hung up the phone.

 

[uujjj]

Check out what actual Tesla employees think of Elon Musk. From Glassdoor:

"
Advice to Management

I was debating whether I approve of the CEO or not. On the one hand, he occasionally sends these excellent emails about business philosophy and avoiding siloing, wasteful meetings, and that managers are there to support their employees, not the other way around. 10/10 on that! When he leads an all-hands meeting, he usually has interesting things to say, especially if you can get him free-form thinking out loud during a Q&A session. On the other hand, he is a relentless micro-manager and singlehandedly derails production, reduces product quality, makes hundreds of people have to work much harder, and causes massive waste because he wants to see every little detail and change those details at literally the last minute. It’s grossly inefficient and is ruining the company bit by bit. My advice to management: The company would work much better if Elon was only an idea man, locked up safely in a room somewhere, with his hands completely off of operations."

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I think the way negotiations actually went was that Elon got on the phone, started cussing and spewing conspiracy theories from the internet, and Dr. Pan's crew hung up the phone.

Elon is seriously hurting Tesla's case here.

If Tesla can make a case that they can partially (or fully) reopen their facilities, they should make the case and provide the plan.

If he thinks the local County is wrongly blocking that plan, he can appeal to the Governor or, possibly, to the State courts. Though the Governor is the right place.
The appeal should be based on the science and be supportable on public health grounds.

But ranting about the inadequate and unpopular suggestions of an unpopular President doesn't buy him a damn thing.

And there's no Constitutional angle here, as the USA has a long legal history with quarantines, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

[Bucfan11]

I'd be upset too. The numbers say there is absolutely no reason Tesla can not produce cars. A virus with a 99.6% survival rate and we shut down and kill the entire economy. Far more people will die from the economy crashing than from this virus in the US. If he does sue and it makes it out of the 9th circuit he will win as all of these lock downs are un-constitutional. California is run by people who are not friendly to businesses but that's on Musk as the state has been that way for over two decades. He should move it to Texas.