7 ms·

Tesla has already started making cars again at its California factory

mips_avatar 6y ago
Move the HQ to Nevada! I would like to live in a world where you can live other places than the Bay area/Seattle/NYC and work for great companies.
- tenpies 6y ago
  You think Tesla is a great company?
  - fasteddie31003 6y ago
    Probably one of the most influential companies ever IMO. Tesla needs another decade to totally revolutionize sustainable transportation.
    - new_realist 6y ago
      So three decades total? That’s not a revolution. That’s a reaction to slowly evolving government policies. Thank the governments of the world for the change you see.
KKKKkkkk1 6y ago
“I love my job personally, just tired of feeling like a chess piece,” this [Fremont employee] said. They also said they wouldn’t feel safe assembling cars right now because it requires such close-quarters work. “We get lured in by the ‘Tesla Dream’ of saving the planet only to get treated so poorly that even though I love my job, I’m not willing to risk my health for him.” Silicon Valley used to be famous for people like Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In the latest generation, we have people like Zuck and Peter Thiel and Elon. No wonder our reputation is worse than Wall Street's.
- jlbnjmn 6y ago
  Serious question. Steve Jobs outsourced the work to FoxConn and others in China, where suicide and rsi were rampant. How is that better?
  - mixmastamyk 6y ago
    There's likely more to the story, but ordering production from another party is different than directly setting policy.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- boznz 6y ago
  I dont think this view represents the majority. My cousin and her husband work there and are quite frankly going gaga at home and chomping at the bit to go back. Although it is a big factory they work quite spaced out in their departments. The health officials in CA must have found some issues they were not aware of, but due to talk tomorrow so will be interesting to see their point of view on the latest developments.
  - quotemstr 6y ago
    > I dont think this view represents the majority. The media has developed a bad habit of amplifying the views of tiny discontented activist minorities inside major companies and presenting their opinions (which are often radical) as if they were typical of the majority. After seeing many examples of this kind of total distortion over the years, I simply can't believe any reports about what employees at major companies think.
  - syshum 6y ago
    >>The health officials in CA must have found some issues Or the CA Health Officials are drunk with power, and/or have a must lower risk tolerance than the average person We have seen countless arbitrary and illogical conditions and rules placed upon people by government, things like banning chairs on a beach but sitting in the sand is fine, things like keeping lotto sales open but banning the sales of seeds. Arbitrary designation as to what "essential" business means and countless others To me it is more likely that the CA government just wants to mandate and control when things happens and does not like it when people challenge their authority
rogerkirkness 6y ago
Tesla already executed on the changes needed extremely quickly in China, where they seem to have done both 1. Much more successful and effective lockdowns and 2. Brought things back online competently fast. Seems like policy makers in the US fail on both counts, no?
- Traster 6y ago
  I think you're making a massive mistake comparing 'the US' and China for a whole number of reasons. Firstly, The US has 246 deaths per million people, New York has 1381 deaths per million, California has 69 deaths per million people. So if we're actually staying on topic of the California plant, actually California is an example of the US doing relatively well. And the reason they're doing well is because of their stringent lock down rules. In fact California probably is doing better than China did in reality - because China's deaths per million is stated as 58 and that's clearly a number no one really beleives. Secondly you need to think about the fact that Musk is going ballistic about the US being a totalitarian state- and we're meant to be looking at China as the comparison? Really? I'd love to see a Chinese CEO make statements about the Chinese government like Musk makes about the US. Finally, the government isn't even saying that Tesla shouldn't reopen the plant, they're just working on making sure they're doing it safely. And you should be listening to the government about this, because it's been pretty conclusively demonstrated by Musk that he can't be trusted on this topic.
  - rogerkirkness 6y ago
    The government is not arguing for safety, they're arguing for their own ability to spend more. It has nothing to do with safety. Tesla cares more about safety than the government does by a mile. Shutting everything down is not going to impact the long term difference in disease outcomes unless you can track, trace and isolate every care. California shot themselves in the head economically and won't protect people long term, they'll just delay it until next winter. NY rounds up to herd immunity, California is one economy destroying lockdown into a series of the number required to actually work.
  - credit_guy 6y ago
thatfrenchguy 6y ago
This article from the NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-elon-musk-tesla-california.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-elon... ) seem to indicate that all of that fuss was to open a week early because Musk really wanted to. Somewhat pathetic to sue your local government for that.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  I'm not saying I'm fully behind Musk here, but the May 18th reopening date comes from an anonymous county official who told the Times about some nonspecific negotiations they were having, so I think it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The county's official stay-at-home order isn't set to expire until June.
  - dekhn 6y ago
    The official wasn't anonymous. Here's his bio: https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm which seems to suggest this is exactly the sort of person who would be involved in such negotiations. I wouldn't take that with a grain of salt.
    - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
      Fair. The article I read said he was anonymous but I do see his name is available in other sources.
dmode 6y ago
Over the last 2 months, I have lost all respect for Elon. And I have a long history of Tesla / Elon fanboi-ism in HN. I am also a Tesla owner. But the recent twitter tirade from Elon absolutely broke me. He predicted "zero cases" in April from COVID, and has simply doubled down in conspiracy theories since that tweet. Everyday he relentlessly retweets conspiracy theories about COVID deaths and concludes half truths and lies about the virus. He also suddenly found his "Free America" spirits, while being completely numb about how the Chinese government shutdown its cities and lied about the virus. Now it is all starting to fall in place. When I bought my car in late 2016, Elon promised FSD in 3-6 months. We are still decades away from FSD and my Tesla still randomly phantom brakes on Autopilot This factory saga is the latest where he unleashed his followers to wreck havoc on a county health officer, who is anyways under pressure of re-opening. And of course, not to mention that he has no concerns about workers in the factory. I think the conclusion is fairly simple - Elon is not special. He is the same old.
- andrekandre 6y ago
  his recent interview on joe rogan was also a bit wierd, saying that most of of the cases are fake so that hospitals can get more money... i found that a bit wierd because he was complaining about twitter where people just say things without evidence, and there he was saying things without presenting any evidence...
  - nickysielicki 6y ago
    > In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate as “probable” or “presumed.” In these instances, certifiers should use their best clinical judgement in determining if a COVID–19 infection was likely. source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf > The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday released new guidance implementing several provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These provisions include: > + A Medicare add-on payment of 20% for both rural and urban inpatient hospital COVID-19 patients; > + Waiver of the long-term care hospital (LTCH) site-neutral policy for COVID-19 patients; > + Waiver of the LTCH “50% Rule” for COVID-19 patients; and > + Waiver of the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) “3-hour Rule” for COVID-19 patients. source: https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-update-cms-releases-guidance-implementing-cares-act-provisions https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-update-c... It's very clear that this is potentially happening on a mass scale. There is nothing preventing it from happening, at least, and the hospitals are under serious financial pressure due to the inability to perform elective surgeries. You cannot invalidate what he's saying. It's easy to chalk that up as yet another conspiracy theory. But at the same time, why wouldn't a hospital take advantage of programs like this? There's very little threat of it coming back to bite them -- there's no enforcement.
kanox 6y ago
Damn https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891 > Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.
- quotemstr 6y ago
  That's real leadership.
  - teachrdan 6y ago
    If you mean that this demonstrates good leadership, I ask you, how? Elon Musk is violating rules intended to keep people safe. And he's doing so to keep a business running that benefits him more than any of his employees. (You could make a different argument if this were a worker-owned cooperative.) Is it good leadership because he's asking that only he be arrested? I don't think anyone on HN believes Elon will actually go to jail. Good leadership because he's (saying that he is) on the line? Elon cosplaying as an assembly line worker for a day doesn't make him a good leader. A good leader would be doing their best to keep their employees safe. Putting thousands of people at risk in order to qualify for another round of stock incentive is not good leadership, no more what theatrics he's publicizing on Twitter. https://electrek.co/2020/05/05/elon-musk-tesla-700-million-payday/ https://electrek.co/2020/05/05/elon-musk-tesla-700-million-p...
    - quotemstr 6y ago
      > Elon Musk is violating rules intended to keep people safe. Blindly going along with rules just because they're intended to keep people safe whether or not they actually a benefit overall isn't exactly a strong indicator of independent thinking. Musk is demonstrating real leadership here because he's putting not only his company, but also his personal freedom on the line. He's putting a huge amount of skin in the game and asking to share the fate of the people he's asked to help him. That takes guts --- far more guts than you see among the mewling leadership of most big tech companies. You may not agree with what Musk is doing, but he's being direct, sincere, and bold, and yes, that's real leadership, and it's missing in most places.

Move the HQ to Nevada! I would like to live in a world where you can live other places than the Bay area/Seattle/NYC and work for great companies.

tenpies 6y ago
You think Tesla is a great company?
- fasteddie31003 6y ago
  Probably one of the most influential companies ever IMO. Tesla needs another decade to totally revolutionize sustainable transportation.
  - new_realist 6y ago
    So three decades total? That’s not a revolution. That’s a reaction to slowly evolving government policies. Thank the governments of the world for the change you see.

KKKKkkkk1 6y ago

“I love my job personally, just tired of feeling like a chess piece,” this [Fremont employee] said. They also said they wouldn’t feel safe assembling cars right now because it requires such close-quarters work. “We get lured in by the ‘Tesla Dream’ of saving the planet only to get treated so poorly that even though I love my job, I’m not willing to risk my health for him.” Silicon Valley used to be famous for people like Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In the latest generation, we have people like Zuck and Peter Thiel and Elon. No wonder our reputation is worse than Wall Street's.

jlbnjmn 6y ago
Serious question. Steve Jobs outsourced the work to FoxConn and others in China, where suicide and rsi were rampant. How is that better?
- mixmastamyk 6y ago
  There's likely more to the story, but ordering production from another party is different than directly setting policy.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
boznz 6y ago
I dont think this view represents the majority. My cousin and her husband work there and are quite frankly going gaga at home and chomping at the bit to go back. Although it is a big factory they work quite spaced out in their departments. The health officials in CA must have found some issues they were not aware of, but due to talk tomorrow so will be interesting to see their point of view on the latest developments.
- quotemstr 6y ago
  > I dont think this view represents the majority. The media has developed a bad habit of amplifying the views of tiny discontented activist minorities inside major companies and presenting their opinions (which are often radical) as if they were typical of the majority. After seeing many examples of this kind of total distortion over the years, I simply can't believe any reports about what employees at major companies think.
- syshum 6y ago
  >>The health officials in CA must have found some issues Or the CA Health Officials are drunk with power, and/or have a must lower risk tolerance than the average person We have seen countless arbitrary and illogical conditions and rules placed upon people by government, things like banning chairs on a beach but sitting in the sand is fine, things like keeping lotto sales open but banning the sales of seeds. Arbitrary designation as to what "essential" business means and countless others To me it is more likely that the CA government just wants to mandate and control when things happens and does not like it when people challenge their authority

rogerkirkness 6y ago

Tesla already executed on the changes needed extremely quickly in China, where they seem to have done both 1. Much more successful and effective lockdowns and 2. Brought things back online competently fast. Seems like policy makers in the US fail on both counts, no?

Traster 6y ago
I think you're making a massive mistake comparing 'the US' and China for a whole number of reasons. Firstly, The US has 246 deaths per million people, New York has 1381 deaths per million, California has 69 deaths per million people. So if we're actually staying on topic of the California plant, actually California is an example of the US doing relatively well. And the reason they're doing well is because of their stringent lock down rules. In fact California probably is doing better than China did in reality - because China's deaths per million is stated as 58 and that's clearly a number no one really beleives. Secondly you need to think about the fact that Musk is going ballistic about the US being a totalitarian state- and we're meant to be looking at China as the comparison? Really? I'd love to see a Chinese CEO make statements about the Chinese government like Musk makes about the US. Finally, the government isn't even saying that Tesla shouldn't reopen the plant, they're just working on making sure they're doing it safely. And you should be listening to the government about this, because it's been pretty conclusively demonstrated by Musk that he can't be trusted on this topic.
- rogerkirkness 6y ago
  The government is not arguing for safety, they're arguing for their own ability to spend more. It has nothing to do with safety. Tesla cares more about safety than the government does by a mile. Shutting everything down is not going to impact the long term difference in disease outcomes unless you can track, trace and isolate every care. California shot themselves in the head economically and won't protect people long term, they'll just delay it until next winter. NY rounds up to herd immunity, California is one economy destroying lockdown into a series of the number required to actually work.
- credit_guy 6y ago

thatfrenchguy 6y ago

This article from the NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-elon-musk-tesla-california.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-elon... ) seem to indicate that all of that fuss was to open a week early because Musk really wanted to. Somewhat pathetic to sue your local government for that.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
I'm not saying I'm fully behind Musk here, but the May 18th reopening date comes from an anonymous county official who told the Times about some nonspecific negotiations they were having, so I think it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The county's official stay-at-home order isn't set to expire until June.
- dekhn 6y ago
  The official wasn't anonymous. Here's his bio: https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm which seems to suggest this is exactly the sort of person who would be involved in such negotiations. I wouldn't take that with a grain of salt.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    Fair. The article I read said he was anonymous but I do see his name is available in other sources.

dmode 6y ago

Over the last 2 months, I have lost all respect for Elon. And I have a long history of Tesla / Elon fanboi-ism in HN. I am also a Tesla owner. But the recent twitter tirade from Elon absolutely broke me. He predicted "zero cases" in April from COVID, and has simply doubled down in conspiracy theories since that tweet. Everyday he relentlessly retweets conspiracy theories about COVID deaths and concludes half truths and lies about the virus. He also suddenly found his "Free America" spirits, while being completely numb about how the Chinese government shutdown its cities and lied about the virus. Now it is all starting to fall in place. When I bought my car in late 2016, Elon promised FSD in 3-6 months. We are still decades away from FSD and my Tesla still randomly phantom brakes on Autopilot This factory saga is the latest where he unleashed his followers to wreck havoc on a county health officer, who is anyways under pressure of re-opening. And of course, not to mention that he has no concerns about workers in the factory. I think the conclusion is fairly simple - Elon is not special. He is the same old.

andrekandre 6y ago
his recent interview on joe rogan was also a bit wierd, saying that most of of the cases are fake so that hospitals can get more money... i found that a bit wierd because he was complaining about twitter where people just say things without evidence, and there he was saying things without presenting any evidence...
- nickysielicki 6y ago
  > In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate as “probable” or “presumed.” In these instances, certifiers should use their best clinical judgement in determining if a COVID–19 infection was likely. source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf > The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday released new guidance implementing several provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These provisions include: > + A Medicare add-on payment of 20% for both rural and urban inpatient hospital COVID-19 patients; > + Waiver of the long-term care hospital (LTCH) site-neutral policy for COVID-19 patients; > + Waiver of the LTCH “50% Rule” for COVID-19 patients; and > + Waiver of the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) “3-hour Rule” for COVID-19 patients. source: https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-update-cms-releases-guidance-implementing-cares-act-provisions https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-update-c... It's very clear that this is potentially happening on a mass scale. There is nothing preventing it from happening, at least, and the hospitals are under serious financial pressure due to the inability to perform elective surgeries. You cannot invalidate what he's saying. It's easy to chalk that up as yet another conspiracy theory. But at the same time, why wouldn't a hospital take advantage of programs like this? There's very little threat of it coming back to bite them -- there's no enforcement.

kanox 6y ago

Damn https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891 > Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.

quotemstr 6y ago
That's real leadership.
- teachrdan 6y ago
  If you mean that this demonstrates good leadership, I ask you, how? Elon Musk is violating rules intended to keep people safe. And he's doing so to keep a business running that benefits him more than any of his employees. (You could make a different argument if this were a worker-owned cooperative.) Is it good leadership because he's asking that only he be arrested? I don't think anyone on HN believes Elon will actually go to jail. Good leadership because he's (saying that he is) on the line? Elon cosplaying as an assembly line worker for a day doesn't make him a good leader. A good leader would be doing their best to keep their employees safe. Putting thousands of people at risk in order to qualify for another round of stock incentive is not good leadership, no more what theatrics he's publicizing on Twitter. https://electrek.co/2020/05/05/elon-musk-tesla-700-million-payday/ https://electrek.co/2020/05/05/elon-musk-tesla-700-million-p...
  - quotemstr 6y ago
    > Elon Musk is violating rules intended to keep people safe. Blindly going along with rules just because they're intended to keep people safe whether or not they actually a benefit overall isn't exactly a strong indicator of independent thinking. Musk is demonstrating real leadership here because he's putting not only his company, but also his personal freedom on the line. He's putting a huge amount of skin in the game and asking to share the fate of the people he's asked to help him. That takes guts --- far more guts than you see among the mewling leadership of most big tech companies. You may not agree with what Musk is doing, but he's being direct, sincere, and bold, and yes, that's real leadership, and it's missing in most places.