Elon Musk defies authorities in Fremont, California and reopens Tesla manufacturing plant

Elon Musk has reopened his Tesla Factory in Fremont California in defiance of local authorities.

Production at the factory stopped on March 23rd after Musk initially resisted orders requesting nonessential businesses to close.

Tesla resumed production after Musk grew increasingly frustrated that lockdown measures in other parts of California, had begun to relax and that the big three automakers in Detroit got the green light to restart production.

After learning that the Fremont plant had reopened, the county health department confirmed it had told Tesla the company could maintain “only minimum basic operations”.

But Elon doesn’t seem too worried about what the authorities have to say. In fact, he practically dared the county sheriff to arrest him.

Tesla did say, it had employee health and safety in mind while reopening, and Musk does have a lot of high-profile people in his corner.

This entire standoff is taking place against the backdrop of a threat that Musk made over the weekend.

He tweeted that the county’s delay in getting Tesla’s manufacturing back up and running was the final straw and he would take his talents elsewhere.

Musk mentioned states like Nevada and Texas.

In addition to perhaps being more helpful in this case, those states have other advantages for Elon personally.