Shortly after information broke that Tesla could be shedding one other spherical of staff, together with the group behind the corporate’s Supercharging community, CEO Elon Musk took to social media to reassure house owners and traders that the charging stations aren’t going wherever.
“Tesla nonetheless plans to develop the Supercharger community, simply at a slower tempo for brand spanking new areas and extra concentrate on 100% uptime and growth of current areas,” Musk wrote in a submit on X.
Tesla nonetheless plans to develop the Supercharger community, simply at a slower tempo for brand spanking new areas and extra concentrate on 100% uptime and growth of current areas
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024
Regardless of Musk’s assurances, Tesla has already begun pulling out of leases for upcoming stations in New York, EV information outlet Electrek reported.
The corporate presently operates 57,579 Superchargers at 6,249 areas globally, the outlet reported.
Even probably the most die-hard Tesla followers had been disheartened by the information. Commenters on Musk’s submit had been fast to name his announcement “kinda lame” and urged him to rethink, arguing that a big charging community is essential to selling widespread adoption of electrical automobiles nationwide.
“This can be a goddamn catastrophe. Superchargers have to be Tesla’s second prime rising sector outdoors of FSD,” Troy Meekhof, who runs the location The Cybertruck Man, which covers the Cybertruck and different EVs, wrote in response to Musk’s submit. “You are opening up the community to virtually each EV driver on the continent with out constructing with urgency? I am truthfully floored at this choice.”
Meekhof informed Enterprise Insider that, as an proprietor of two Tesla automobiles, he is very aware of Superchargers and referred to as them “rattling close to magical,” saying they work each time with out fail and the stations he visits are hardly ever full. Nonetheless, he mentioned, total sections of the nation and his house state of Michigan are utterly off-limits to him and his automobiles “merely due to the shortage of charging choices.”
“I am typically apt to belief Musk’s maniacal whims as a result of they’re indicative of a extra advanced longer-term plan, however destroying the division chargeable for what I consider is their single biggest achievement in North America is concurrently surprising and bewildering,” Meekhof informed BI, including he is “definitely trying ahead to seeing what this broader plan is, however at face worth, I am alarmed.”
The most recent spherical of Tesla layoffs, introduced by Musk through e-mail late Monday, embrace Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of the corporate’s Supercharger group, and Daniel Ho, head of latest merchandise, BI beforehand reported. Whereas some staff could also be reassigned, the Supercharging group, about 500 staff sturdy, will probably be dissolved.
The cuts come after Tesla’s lukewarm earnings report final week, which included an 8.7% year-over-year income drop in Q1, its earnings per share lacking consensus forecasts, and the corporate’s free money circulation dropping 674% year-over-year to damaging $2.5 billion.
Representatives for Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
