Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory operates at half capacity as carmaker’s supply chain is yet to recover from impact of lockdown

The Shanghai plant, which has a daily production capacity of 2,600 units, is currently churning out only 1,200 units

Tesla had expected to restore full production at Giga Shanghai from May 16, according to two executives of companies that supply parts to the carmaker

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Production at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai has been affected by the lockdown in China’s ‘Motown’. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:30pm, 17 May 2022Updated: 1:06pm, 31 May 2022

A strained supply chain is slowing output at Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, severely affecting the US carmaker’s efforts to get the assembly line operating at full capacity.

The factory, also known as Giga Shanghai, is currently able to only produce 1,200 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles a day after it resumed operations on April 19 following a 22-day suspension due to a lockdown in the mainland’s “Motown”.

The daily output represents just 45 per cent of its full capacity of 2,600 units a day, Wu Xiaohua, deputy Communist Party secretary of the Lingang free-trade zone administration, said on Tuesday.

The US carmaker had expected to fully restore production on May 16, according to two executives at Tesla’s car component vendors.

A Tesla sign is seen at its factory in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

Tesla declined to comment to the Post on when it expects to restore production to full capacity.