Tesla tells Cybertruck employees that shifts will be shorter at the Austin Gigafactory

Tesla is shortening the shifts on its Cybertruck line.Richard Vogel

Tesla sent an internal memo to Cybertruck employees recently. 
The memo describes shorter hours at the Austin Gigafactory.
The new schedule follows Tesla’s first year-over-year quarterly sales decline since 2020.

Tesla told employees who work on the Cybertruck that shifts will be shorter on the production line at the Austin Gigafactory, according to an internal messaged viewed by Business Insider.

Previously, workers clocked 12 hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.. They will now be working 11 hour shifts during the day and 10.5 hour shifts at night — from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. — the memo said.

The new schedule was communicated internally last Thursday and will kick in on Monday, according to the memo.

It’s unclear whether Tesla is implementing the new schedule on other production lines, or at other factories. Tesla makes the Cybertruck at the Austin Gigafactory, but it also makes its Model Y there and is working on its next-gen vehicle at the location.

Some workers at other Tesla factories in Sparks, Nevada, and Fremont, California, told BI they were still scheduled for full 12 hour shifts. Factory workers at the electric-vehicle maker typically work three to four days per week.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla has begun to feel the impact of slowing demand for EVs. Earlier this month, the company’s first-quarter delivery numbers fell significantly below Wall Street expectations. The company saw its first year-over-year quarterly decline in deliveries since 2020.

On Saturday, some Tesla employees told BI they are concerned about big layoffs that may come as soon as this weekend.

It’s unclear how many Cybertrucks Tesla has delivered to date. During Tesla’s latest earnings call in January, Elon Musk said the Cybertruck was almost sold out for 2024.

“This is a production-constraint situation, not a demand-constraint situation,” Musk said at the time.

Tesla released the Cybertruck in November. The company’s Austin factory handles production of the vehicle, which Musk has said requires a high level of precision due to the truck’s sharp lines.

Ahead of the vehicle’s launch, Musk warned that Tesla had “dug its own grave” with the Cybertruck and that it would take years to ramp up production. Tesla aims to produce 250,000 Cybertrucks per year by 2025, according to Musk.

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