Tesla sacks some battery workers at Shanghai factory – report

Electric vehicle giant Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is laying off some battery production workers at its Shanghai plant in China amid the ongoing price war in the electric vehicle space, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Tesla (TSLA) started notifying some workers on the battery assembly lines about the layoffs earlier this week, although the number of employees being laid off, or the reason why, remain unclear. Some employees have been given the option to transfer to another workshop.

Automation equipment that could replace human labor on the battery production line is being designed, the report added citing a source.

The Shanghai gigafactory employs around 20,000 workers, including those in assembly lines building the top-selling Model Y and Model 3. The factory is capable of pushing out about 1 million cars a year.

Tesla (TSLA) reported record deliveries and production numbers in Q2, delivering 466,140 EVs in Q2, handily beating Street estimates.

However, its Q1 margins shrank with the marking down of EVs. At the time, the EV maker said product pricing will likely continue to evolve, upwards or downwards.

More on EV price war:

• China’s EV Sector At Crossroads As Nio Joins Bloody Price War