Elon Musk to reopen California Tesla plant despite lockdown restrictions

“Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules,” the billionaire CEO tweeted. “I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”

Musk had previously threatened the county of Alameda, where its plant is located, alleging that the local public health order violated California’s constitution. He also threatened to move the factory to other states such as Texas or Nevada.

The chief executive officer was already under fire after recently being caught publishing false information about the disease to his more than 34m Twitter followers.

On Monday, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom said during his daily press briefing that he was not aware Tesla had reopened but that he had “great expectations that we can work through at the county levels”, adding: “We look forward to many, many decades of that relationship with Tesla.”

"We continue to move closer to an agreed upon safety plan for reopening beyond Minimum Basic Operations by working through steps that Tesla has agreed to adopt," the Alameda County Public Health Department said in a statement. "These steps include improving employee health screening procedures and engaging front-line staff on their concerns and feedback regarding safety protocols."