On May 20, American electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla Inc. dropped the lawsuit issued against Alameda County, California “without prejudice.” The company did not comment on why it was dropping the suit.
Elon Musk, known as the founder of aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX and Tesla, has long criticized the stay-at-home lockdown regulations in the state of California which have been in place since mid-March. After initially fighting the lockdown order, Tesla ceased its operations on March 23.
After repeatedly taking to Twitter to speak out against what he refers to “fascist” regulations due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Musk threatened to move the factory to other states within the country, such as Texas or Nevada.
Musk sued Alameda County on May 9 and two days after issuing the lawsuit, he resumed production at Tesla’s only United States-based factory in California, defying the state’s lockdown regulations.
Tesla and county officials continued to negotiate reopening plans, even as the company called workers back and prepared to resume production. The county agreed to allow Tesla to continue to ramp up minimum basic work in order to prepare for operations. However, Musk is still actively casting about for a new factory location, with several states said to be in the running.
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