Relatively little is known about one of Tesla’s most powerful executives.
Tom Zhu was Tesla’s chief in China and the Asia region,
and he led the construction and operation of Gigafactory Shanghai.
He’s been so impressive that in April 2023,
Elon gave him a huge promotion, to senior vice president of automotive.
Where he’s responsible for overseeing operations worldwide,
including all of Tesla’s assembly plants.
This makes Zhu the highest-profile executive after Elon Musk, according to Reuters, which
reports that those answering to Zhu include: the director of manufacturing at Giga Texas,
the senior director of vehicle operations and manufacturing engineering at the Fremont factory,
the vice president in charge of Europe, Middle East, and Africa,
and the VP of sales and service in North America.
The 43-year-old, who hails from Beijing, obtained a Bachelor of Commerce in
Information Technology from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
He then moved on to work at engineering consultancy Kaibo Engineering,
founded by a Duke University MBA classmate.
The firm offers expertise to Chinese contractors wanting
to expand infrastructure projects overseas.
While working for Kaibo in North Africa, he was reportedly introduced to Cal Lankton,
the then director of Tesla’s global EV charging infrastructure.
Impressed by his work, Lankton hired him to join Tesla in 2014, to build
out Tesla's supercharging network in China.
Zhu has been responsible for Tesla’s tremendous growth in that region.
Giga Shanghai went from a bare field in January 2019 to a fully built factory in
just nine months and delivered its first vehicle in December of the same year.
That’s despite battling typhoons that hit the plant’s drainage system.
Zhu and other Tesla employees took matters into their own hands and
went up to the roof to manually drain the water with buckets.
Wu Wa, who documents the development of Tesla’s Shanghai plant on his YouTube
channel, posted footage showing the aftermath of the destruction.
Zhu played a significant role in the quick recovery of the Shanghai
factory after COVID lockdowns in China halted production for many companies.
And when a COVID surge led to a two-month lockdown,
Zhu is reported to have slept in the factory the entire time, safeguarding its operations.
On the rare occasion when he isn't at the factory, Zhu resides in a two-bedroom public rental housing
unit a 10-minute drive from Giga Shanghai and costs less than 2000 yuan, or $280, a month.
According to Chinese media, Zhu’s parents have come to stay with him.
He keeps his private life private but we do know he also has a young son.
Interestingly, the apartment complex is a residential area for other Tesla employees
which he revealed in an interview with the Chinese car review website, PCAuto.
“It’s a great atmosphere. Say, you help me get my parcel,
I get something for you. It’s a good way of working and living.”
He says he carpools with employees to the Gigafactory and starts work at 6 or 7 am
in order to catch his colleagues in North America before they head home for the day.
That includes communicating directly with Elon Musk.
He spends the rest of his time on the production line, talking with
engineers to solve technical problems, and often doesn’t log off until midnight.
On his Chinese social media account Weibo, he posted this:
“I wanna sleep so much, but the job is so damn interesting.”
Zhu’s hard work has paid off.
He’s made Giga Shanghai Tesla’s most efficient factory.
Its annual production capacity is over 750,000 vehicles which was more than half
of Tesla’s entire global production of 1.37 million vehicles in 2022.
Giga Shanghai can currently produce one vehicle in less than 2 minutes!
That’s still not good enough. Zhu says the goal is
to have a Tesla rolling off the assembly line every 45 seconds.
Shanghai achieved its productivity by designing the factory in a straight-line layout,
which simplifies the flow of materials through the manufacturing process, increasing efficiency.
It also has a robust in-house construction team to avoid relying too much on third-party contractors.
And the third factor is hard work.
Thank you for being here late at night.
Elon showed his appreciation for Tesla’s China team when he
visited the country for the first time in three years, in May 2023.
“I tell people throughout the world the cars we produce here are not just
the most efficient production but also the highest quality.”
I would like to congratulate you on the amazing work that you’ve
done. It’s been incredibly impressive how you
have been able to overcome so many difficulties and challenges. It warms my heart to know.
The Chinese government is a strong supporter of Tesla,
which was the first foreign automaker to open an independent factory in China.
Usually, foreign carmakers must team up with a Chinese partner.
But some wonder if Tesla’s position might be impacted by the escalating
tensions between the United States and China.
I think as long as we’re needed in this country, I don’t see there (being) much of a risk of that.
Zhu has big ambitions for Tesla to grow even faster - in China and around the world.
It took 12 years for Tesla to build 1 million vehicles.
1.5 years to build its second.
11 months to build the third million
And only 7 months later, it built its fourth.
So we’re getting better at it faster. Exponential growth.
In an interview with his alma mater Duke University, he described himself as “tenacious”.
For his tenacity, he’s been handsomely rewarded.
Recently acquiring an additional 339,060 shares in TSLA, according to an SEC filing.
Given a share price of $214 when this video was produced, they’re worth around $70 million.
Who knows how much they’ll be when he cashes out.
But for Zhu, it doesn’t appear to be about the money. But the mission.
“Until all the cars on the road are electric cars, we will not stop.”
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Thanks for watching. I’m Cindy Pom.