Elon Musk says Tesla's Berlin & Austin gigafactories are losing 'billions of dollars right now'

Musk also describes the gigafactories as gigantic money furnaces.

Image: Tesla
14

Elon Musk is back in the news once again, this time in regards to statements made about Tesla’s Berlin and Austin gigafactories. According to Musk, the factories are losing “billions of dollars right now” due to ongoing supply chain issues.

This stems, in part, from the COVID-19 pandemic as a recent resurgence of the virus in China resulted in a two-month lockdown in Shanghai, which is where one of Tesla’s plants is located.

That said, lockdowns aren’t the primary problem as it was reported by Reuters that Tesla plans to suspend most of its Shanghai plant’s production during the first two weeks of July in order to work on upgrades intended to increase the plant’s output.

Elon Musk says the Austin and Berlin gigafactories are losing billions of dollars due to ongoing supply chain issues
© Tesla

At present, the Shanghai factory produces around 17,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, with the goal behind increasing output being to bring that number up to 22,000. Ramping up production can be costly, but it sounds like it isn’t as concerningly costly as the situation with Tesla’s Berlin and Austin gigafactories.

Tesla's Shanghai factory will shut down for two weeks in July as it's upgraded to increase production output
© Xiaolu Chu | Getty Images

In one part of Musk’s statement on the Berlin and Austin factories, he points out as an example that some of the tools needed for manufacturing some of Tesla’s vehicles are currently “stuck in a port in China”.

Not being out of it yet certainly seems to be the case, as Reuters reports that production at Tesla’s Shanghai factory is expect to fall by “over a third this quarter from the first three months of the year” as a result of lockdowns in China causing “deeper disruptions to output than Musk had predicted.”

For more on this, be sure to read through the full report from Reuters and CNBC. And for more on Elon Musk, also check out some of our coverage including Musk confirming upcoming Tesla (TSLA) salaried workforce cuts.

Senior Editor

Morgan is a writer from the frozen wastelands of Maine who enjoys metal music, kpop, horror, and indie games. They're also a Tetris fanatic who's fiercely competitive in games like Tetris 99... and all games in general. But mostly Tetris. You can follow Morgan on Twitter @Author_MShaver.

From The Chatty
Hello, Meet Lola