Tesla Will Shift Model 3 Output to 24/7 Schedule

Tesla Inc. plans to crank up production of its $35,000 Model 3 electric sedan in May to an around-the-clock schedule.

CEO Elon Musk says the company will hire about 400 people per week for several weeks to staff the third shift at Tesla’s assembly plant in California and bolster output at its battery factory in Nevada.

The accelerated seven-day-per-week production plan will begin shortly after the company suspends output entirely for 3-5 days late this month to fix production bottlenecks. Musk cautions that Tesla plans another such suspension at the end of May to further tweak the Model 3’s highly automated assembly line.

Tesla scrambled to push weekly Model 3 throughput to 2,000 units at the end of March—500 units short of its objective. The company’s goal for May is 3,000-4,000 cars per week.

Musk reiterates that Tesla aims to establish an average weekly production pace of 5,000 cars by the end of June. That goal will be made possible by occasional “burst-build” throughput of 6,000 units to offset unexpected unforeseen supply and production glitches, he says.