Tesla recently announced a cut of about 10% of its workforce. Apparently, however, i layoffs are more extensive than one might initially assume e they also include several executives present for some time within the company in key positions.
Let’s talk for example about Rebecca Tinucciresponsible for Superchargers and Daniel Ho, director of vehicle and new product programs. As The Information reports, Rebecca Tinucci’s departure is certainly among the most significant because essentially the company has decided to eliminate or almost eliminate the entire team of around 500 people who deal with Superchargers. In an email to the company’s senior executives, Elon Musk says:
We hope these actions are making it clear that we need to be tough on operations and cost reduction managers. While some executive staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.
The move to fire the team working on Superchargers has clearly caused a lot of discussion given that this network has always been considered an added value that the company offers to its customers. In the email, Musk adds that he will continue to build the Supercharger stations currently under construction without further comment on how the team’s absence will affect Tesla’s plan to grow this charging network.
The first repercussions however, they have already manifested themselves.
First of all, Elon Musk himself spoke on X (formerly Twitter) stating that the company will continue to advance the charging network but at a slower pace than before (for new locations). Furthermore, it will focus more on the expansion of existing stations and reliability to ensure 100% uptime.
Additionally, Electrek sources said the company would cancel some leases for a series of new Superchargers in New York that had already been announced. So, Tesla appears to have slowed growth plans for its Supercharger stations. Let’s remember that Tesla managed to impose its own in the United States NACS charging standard with the other car manufacturers who have decided to adopt it. At the same time, Elon Musk’s company began to open its stations to electric cars from other manufacturers.
Now more than ever, Tesla needs to expand its network to support the growth of its fleet of cars and the increase in “traffic” at its stations as cars from other automakers arrive. We will better understand the effects of the decision to eliminate or almost eliminate the Supercharger team over the next few months.
