Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he will take his company out of California amid an ongoing dispute about reopening plant operations in Alameda County. The billionaire said Tesla will immediately move its headquarters, located in Palo Alto, and future programs to Texas and Nevada.
The spat began when Dr. Erica Pan, Alameda County's interim public health officer, said Tesla could not reopen operations at its main factory in Fremont, California, as the company had planned to do on Friday. Musk revealed his frustrations with the doctor and the county's decision to everyone on Twitter.
Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant “Interim Health Officer” of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Frankly, this is the final straw. 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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
San Joaquin County, right next door to Alameda, has been sensible & reasonable, whereas Alameda has been irrational & detached from reality. Our castings foundry and other faculties in San Joaquin have been working 24/7 this entire time with no ill effects. Same with Giga Nevada.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Exactly! Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience than an (unelected) interim junior official in Alameda County.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
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In a series of tweets earlier this month, the entrepreneur opined that his company's stock price was "too high," demanded that people be given back their freedom, and claimed he was selling "almost all" of physical possessions, including his house.
Tesla stock price is too high imo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Now give people back their FREEDOM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Musk also described stay-at-home orders as "fascist" during Tesla's recent earnings report, viewing the orders as "forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights ..."
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