SHANGHAI, China: Tesla plans to restore production at its Gigafactory 3 plant in Shanghai to pre-COVID-19 lockdown levels by this week, as reported by Reuters.

In a memo detailing the plan, Tesla said it will more than double its daily output to 2,600 electric vehicles (EV) at its Shanghai plant, compared to some 1,000 EVs assembled daily this week, which would bring Tesla’s weekly output to nearly 16,000 units.

Due to the city’s strict controls imposed from March on the movement of people and goods to curb a COVID-19 outbreak, Tesla has found it challenging to bring production back to pre-lockdown levels at its Shanghai plant.

According to Reuters, Tesla had planned to return to pre-lockdown production levels by 16th May, but then delayed that target by one week.

Under what Chinese officials describe as a “closed-loop” control to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Tesla was able to resume partial production on 19th April.

Companies in Shanghai are only allowed to reopen if they can operate under such an arrangement, which requires workers to remain isolated.

Local authorities were asked by the city’s government to speed up approvals of certificates needed by workers to return to factories beginning this week.

The Shanghai shutdown resulted in Tesla selling only 1,512 EVs in China in April, compared to 65,754 the previous month.

Tesla had earlier run three shifts daily at the Shanghai plant, which assembles its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. After a 22-day closure, the factory reopened on 19th April, its longest closure since it opened in late 2019.