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Who is Tesla’s Tom Zhu, the Chinese exec praised by Elon Musk for ‘burning the 3am oil’?

  • Zhu Xiaotong, who has been with Tesla since 2014, describes himself as ‘tenacious’ and is known for his hands-on work ethic
  • Reports and YouTube videos show Zhu as being wholly committed to Tesla, with former and current staff describing him as pragmatic and responsive

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Tesla’s China chief Tom Zhu speaks at a delivery ceremony for China-made Tesla Model 3 vehicles in the Shanghai Gigafactory in December 2019. Photo: Reuters
Bloomberg
In a Twitter photo celebrating Tesla producing 3,000 Model Ys a week at its Texas factory last month, Zhu Xiaotong, who goes by Tom Zhu, stood smiling to the left of the large crowd in a hi-visibility vest and black cap imprinted with a white “T” for Tesla.

Zhu, who spearheaded the US carmaker’s Asia-Pacific operations and ran its Shanghai factory to become the firm’s most productive in the world, was brought over to Austin late last year to help run Tesla’s newest plant.

Although Tesla has not made any announcement and has yet to name him as an executive officer, it is understood Zhu is now overseeing global automotive production, sales and service, a level of responsibility arguably second only to chief executive officer Elon Musk.

So who is Zhu, whose role is all the more important in light of Musk’s preoccupation with Twitter and shareholder demands for more transparency about who is next in line after Musk?
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Born in China and also reportedly holding a New Zealand passport, Zhu joined Tesla in early 2014 to help build out its Supercharger network. Before that, he helped found an international engineering consultancy that offered services to Chinese contractors wanting to expand overseas. He holds a bachelor’s degree of commerce in information technology from New Zealand’s AUT and later graduated from the MBA programme at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Zhu rose through Tesla’s ranks quickly, becoming manager of China operations by the end of his first year. Under his purview, Tesla’s Shanghai factory – the company’s first outside the US – materialised at breakneck speed, going from a muddy field to gleaming facility producing electric cars in under 12 months. Before mass production even started at the end of 2019, Zhu had been promoted to global vice-president and president of Greater China.

Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai is the company’s first outside the United States. Photo: VCG via Getty Images
Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai is the company’s first outside the United States. Photo: VCG via Getty Images
In July last year, he was elevated further to oversee all of Tesla Asia-Pacific as the carmaker expanded in Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Zhu’s China team also won praise from Musk for “burning the 3am oil” as they worked around the clock to keep the Shanghai factory operating during the city’s Covid lockdowns. During what was an extraordinarily difficult last 12 months, the plant underwent upgrades to boost production capacity to 1 million electric vehicles a year.
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