Bloomberg has reported that the director of battery technology for Tesla, Kurt Kelty, has left the company. The news of his departure is significant as it comes at a time where Tesla (NASDAQ:$TSLA) is gearing up for Model 3 “production hell.”
Kelty has been apart of the Tesla team since 2006, and he was one of the longest-serving executives at Tesla led by CEO Elon Musk. Before joining the automaker’s team, Kelty worked at Panasonic Corp.(TYO:$6752) for more than 14 years. Again, this is significant as Panasonic produces and supplies lithium-ion cells to Tesla for its battery packs. They also plan to invest $1.6 billion in Tesla’s Gigafactory 1.
“We can confirm that Kurt Kelty has left the company to explore new opportunities and we want to thank him for everything he’s done for Tesla,” the Palo Alto, California-based company said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. Further, the email stated that Kelty’s responsibilities will be “distributed among Tesla’s existing teams.”
Mentioned previously, the timing of Kelty’s exit comes at a critical time for Tesla, as the company rolled out its first Model 3 vehicle to employees on Friday night. Tesla commenced production of the Model 3 vehicle last month and plans to make 20,000 a month by December. Musk has referred to this 6-month ramp-up plan as “production hell.”
It’s worth noting that this is not the first time an employee has left Tesla stranded. Earlier this year, CFO Jason Wheeler, who was a former Google executive, departed the company.
After the market close Wednesday, Tesla will report second quarter earnings.
Featured Image: twitter
