Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla's Supercharger Plans As Layoffs Hit Charging Team
In the wake of its latest fiscal quarter — which wasn't particularly well received by investors due to slowing sales — Tesla has initiated some major organizational restructuring (as it did in 2022), something that may put its charging infrastructure goals in jeopardy. Multiple reports citing insiders claim that Tesla has disbanded its entire charging team, including leadership. Earlier in April, Drew Baglino, former VP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering, also departed Tesla, in the same time frame that the company initiated a company-wide layoff that affected more than 10% of its workforce.
The loss of its charging team comes at a time when Tesla's charging standard has attracted widespread adoption in the EV industry, that itself following the automaker's decision to make it an open standard in 2022. According to an analysis of data at Politico, Tesla has also pocketed over $17 million in infrastructure grants as part of President Joe Biden's National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) initiative to expand the country's EV charging network. Tesla's latest moves expectedly sent shockwaves through the industry, especially for rival carmakers that have embraced the company's NACS charging standard and pinned their hopes of electrification on the availability of a ready-to-use charger network.
Tesla's Supercharger plans have been tweaked
In addition to layoffs, Electrek claims via unnamed sources that Tesla has also pulled out of at least four Supercharger lease contracts in New York, spurring both speculation and concerns. The automaker's CEO Elon Musk weighed in on the matter soon after, stating, "Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations."
Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024
Partners also expressed optimism that the layoffs could just be a temporary internal reshuffle. "It may be possible Mr. Musk will reconstitute the EV charger team in bigger, badder, more Muskian way," Andres Pinter, head of one of Tesla's charging partners, was quoted as saying by Reuters, also noting that the layoffs were "a sharp kick in the pants this morning." GM and Ford told the outlet that they won't be making any immediate plan changes. On the bright side, Tesla's Q1 2024 financial report mentions the number of Supercharger connectors it has installed so far has gone up by 27% on a year-on-year basis while adding over 6,000 Supercharger stations globally.