Sadly, for you, the article does not say Tesla used tape in-lieu of heat-shrink tubing or even mention heat-shrink at all. It simply states a fact that "factory tape is high-quality and looks as if it’s shrink-wrapped on a part" to provide contrast to the product Tesla was using.
The usage of the tape, as suggested by the article, wasn't for electrical insulation or wiring protection.
> Weird, I saw people elsewhere in the comments mention heatshrink tubing being substituted with electrical tape.
Right, because like I said above, the prevailing paradigm is to skewer Tesla by extrapolating from any available datapoint. So people take "tape" and invent reasons for the tape that don't appear in the article. Some of this isn't the posters' fault, because the article is sensationalized and is clearly trying to lead you to a conclusion about "tape" that it can't make with the simple facts presented.
Which is a media behavior that is, in the auto industry as of right now, almost exclusive to Tesla. No one runs dirt stories about tape on Fords, not because there isn't any (I mean, who knows, but none of would be shocked to read about it) but because even if there was, no one would care.
It's particularly weird, because the people who're talking about Tesla using tape are the ones saying "it's heat shrink tape, guys, nothing to see here".
Whereas the people reporting the tape are saying it's standard electrical tape, used to hold cracked pieces of plastic together.
The usage of the tape, as suggested by the article, wasn't for electrical insulation or wiring protection.