"We'll be sleeping on the line, practically."
Production Hell
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is warning his workers that they'll have to sleep — and from the sounds of it, practically live — at the company's Texas manufacturing plant so that the carmaker can produce an affordable electric vehicle for the masses, Business Insider reports.
"That will be a challenging production ramp," the news outlet reports Musk saying during an earning's call on Wednesday. "We'll be sleeping on the line, practically. Not practically, we will be."
The electric vehicle in question apparently has the codename "Redwood," Reuters previously reported, and Tesla plans to build it sometime in 2025.
This won't be the first time Tesla workers have had to sleep inside company factories during periods of what he has previously called "production hell." Musk himself has been known to slumber at Tesla during production ramp ups, something which he loves to brag about.
Quality Control
But it remains to be seen whether these kind of production rushes are good for the company. Customers and reporters have pointed out that Tesla vehicles can suffer from significant quality problems, from the suspension failing to driving range issues.
The most visible quality control issues have been exterior finish problems, such as misaligned doors in the Cybertruck and protruding exterior molding above the window of Model Ys.
We don't know if there is a direct correlation between quality issues and the lack of work-life balance at Tesla facilities, but it's telling that X-formerly Twitter has been known to have staff sleep at the headquarters after Musk bought it in October 2022.
And X has been noticeably more buggy ever since Musk became involved.
Whether a truly affordable Tesla will ever see the mass market is also a lingering question. Musk has been promising a vehicle at a $25,000 price point for years, but it has yet to actually materialize.
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