The county hasn’t yet said how it will react. In a discussion with the New York Times, however, district supervisor Scott Haggerty said that the county had been near an agreement to restart production on May 18th after determining Tesla had done a “pretty good job” of implementing safety measures. Musk just wasn’t willing to wait, Haggerty said — in fact, he wanted to reopen the factory on May 8th.

There’s little doubt that Tesla is under pressure to resume production. While the company had stellar first quarter earnings and could partly buoy the second quarter through deliveries of already-produced EVs, time is running out. At a certain point, it has to make new cars to avoid a huge shortfall.

Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020