Tesla to cut staff by 75% at Nevada Gigafactory

US electric vehicles (EV) maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) will reduce headcount at the Gigafactory in Nevada by around 75% in the coming days as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, a manager for Storey County said Thursday.

The news comes less than a week after Tesla’s partner Panasonic Corp (TYO:6752), with which it shares the Gigafactory space, said it would first ramp down production on its side of the facility before closing it for 14 days.

The Gigafactory, located in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC), manufactures electric motors and battery packs for Tesla’s Model 3 EV sedan and energy storage products.

Last week, Tesla said it would temporarily suspend operations at its EV plant in Fremont, California, due to concerns over COVID-19. Its Gigafactory 2 production base in Buffalo, New York, where it makes solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, is to remain in operation but only for parts and supplies necessary for service, infrastructure and critical supply chains.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said on Twitter that the New York Gigafactory would reopen for ventilator production “as soon as humanly possible.”

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