Elon Musk Asks Tesla Employees To Work “Very Hard” To Face Production Challenges Due To Chip Scarcity

JAKARTA - Tesla Inc's Chief Executive, Elon Musk, has asked his employees to "go super hardcore" to tackle production challenges at the start of the third quarter and "ensure a decent number of Q3 deliveries." The statement delivered via internal email was seen by Reuters.

"This end-of-quarter shipping wave is unusually high, as we suffered (like the entire industry) from a very severe parts shortage earlier this quarter", he said in an email sent on Wednesday, September 8.

He said Tesla built "a lot of cars with missing parts that needed to be added later." "This is the biggest wave in Tesla's history," Musk said, referring to its end-of-the-quarter delivery effort.

Tesla posted a record quarterly vehicle shipment for the April-June quarter, but Musk said in July that its output growth for the rest of the year would be dictated by the global chip shortage situation, which "remains quite serious."

Musk has traditionally emailed employees nearly every end of the quarter urging employees to increase deliveries, and sometimes hinting at his delivery targets.

Tesla recently started sales of the Model 3 version in the US with a different lithium iron phosphate battery, which it says will help advance vehicle shipments.

LFP batteries are currently used in Tesla Model 3 and Model Y made in China which are sold there and exported to Europe and other countries.

Tesla says customers who switch to the Model 3 with an LFP battery will be able to receive the model earlier than its early-year-end delivery date.

"Due to limited supply and strong customer demand, we are introducing the Model 3 Standard Range Plus battery pack, which we have released in Europe and Asia, to North America," he said in an email to several customers and seen by Reuters.