Tesla’s manufacturing teams around the world play a huge role in the company’s success.
On Wednesday, electrek reported Tesla’s top manufacturing engineer, Victor Prajapati, would be departing from the company to join the manufacturing team at Rivian – a rival electric vehicle (EV) company whose first release, the R1T, is set to be the market’s first electric pickup truck.
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During his time at Tesla, Prajapati played a significant role in the company’s journey through ‘production hell’. He helped build the company’s cell manufacturing division, lead the acquisition of lithium-ion adjacent company Hibar, and worked closely with Panasonic to develop the company’s production lines. These are just a few of the major contributions from Prajapati to Tesla during his time with the company.
Regarding his position and accomplishments at Tesla, Prajapati wrote on LinkedIn, “Managed one of the critical bottlenecks for Model 3 production during ‘production hell’ ramping the line from <10 cars/week to 3,000 cars/week following an S-curve, managing a team of highly talented engineers and working with all of Tesla resources.”
At Rivian, Prajapati has been named the company’s Director of Manufacturing Engineering, an apt title given his experience.
While the move is certainly a detriment to Tesla, Prajapati’s legacy at the company will remain, and a move to Rivian may even help the EV market grow as a whole.
