The move destabilized the electric car industry, this being a strategic business for Tesla but also for the entire transportation energy transition
They seem to be in everything 500 employees fired from Tesla at the end of April. The announcement comes from an internal email and reported by the New York Times. However, yet another phase of contraction of the workforce in Musk’s companies is concentrated on a division that is considered more than strategic. They all belong to the team that takes care of Supercharger stations, an excellence of Tesla as it has made the spread of electric cars possible by allowing super-fast charging while traveling. Today I am 50 thousand rest points built by the company all over the world, of which dozens also in Italy. And there won’t be any new ones. Or at least, the next buildings will come strongly slow downas Musk declared on X adding that he will focus «on 100 percent operations and the expansion of existing locations». The news – including the dismissal of the person responsible for the entire charging infrastructure Rebecca Tinucci – has significantly destabilized the entire sector.
The super recharge for everyone
In 2023 Tesla has signed agreements with the major electric car production companies – including Ford and General Motors – to allow them too to use its super-fast charging stations. An opportunity, as the already large Supercharger network makes it the adoption of an electric car is more sustainable and the possibility of recharging it while travelling. All manufacturers rushed to modify hardware and software to make their cars compatible with Tesla charging. Now the abrupt stop that the company seems to be giving to what represents not only a solid business but also a fundamental piece for the energy transition in the world of transport scares the industry but also analysts. If electric car manufacturers are the first to stop believing in the future of their technology, how can this really replace traditional cars?
A difficult period
Tesla is still living a difficult periodwith the first drops in sales since its boom and the threat of increasingly strong Chinese competition. Musk has made no secret of the need to cut costs and the 500 layoffs in the Supercharger team come after the announcement of a further 14,000 layoffs worldwide. In any case, the move to reduce investments in that division, super-fast charging, which continues to keep Tesla in a dominant position despite the difficulties remains difficult to understand. Even to the employees themselves, who were dismissed with a simple email: «If you had told me a month ago that Tesla was a company that would inform the people, some with more than 10 years of experience, who helped build the company into what it is today, with nothing’ nothing more than a “Dear Employee..” email in the middle of the night – wrote Lane Chaplin, a former employee of the charging unit, on LinkedIn – I would have told you that you are crazy».
May 2, 2024
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