Tesla argues that it needs to upgrade its Gigafactory in China to be able to produce 22,000 EVs per week instead of the current 17,000.
To that end, the company plans to put all production in that country on hold in early July to retrofit the assembly lines and upgrade the facilities. The production volume increase (8,000 Model 3 + 14,000 Model Y units) had been set as a mid-May 2022 goal, but the recent Covid outbreak in China and the restrictions imposed by the authorities of Shanghai prevented Tesla from reaching that milestone.
Elon Musk admits that the production volume in Q2 2022 will be around 33% smaller than it was in Q1 of the same year due to the reasons mentioned above as well as a shortage of parts.
The automaker’s Texas and Berlin industrial complexes have also fallen on hard times lately. New 4680-type power cells are in short supply at both locations, while the cargo ships carrying older 2170-type cells stay moored in China’s docks until the crisis blows over.
Customers have already experienced delays caused by these manufacturing issues. For example, customers who ordered their Tesla EVs in Europe are expected to start receiving them in Q4 2022 or later, while those in Australia will have to wait at least until Q1 2023. Buyers in China are somewhat better off with average delay times between 2 and 5 months.