Supercharger team sacked?

[MD70]

You're taking my point too far.

What I'm saying is that a team of 500 to run superchargers is a hell of a lot of people. Likely at that size there's too much bureaucracy and wastage, and that it could be done by far far fewer people.

50 states each with different laws, regulations and processes to install chargers.
Different contractors.
Different landowners.
Different power companies.

Plus management of the maintenance of all the existing chargers.

I would expect tesla to have hundreds of people dealing with all this.

If it’s true that the whole team was fired because the director in charge said they were all needed then this just shows the mentality of the leader.
If he didn’t like the director standing up to him, get rid of her only and cut who you think is surplus.

For a public company this is irresponsible as by getting rid of all the staff you lose the knowledge and experience which new people will take a while to build up.

 

[yessuz]

You've clearly never been in a company that has had layoffs. The work will be given to another team to manage. Happens all the time in IT.

oh, on contrary ))

I have been in a company which was acquired by the Fortune 500 company for few tens of billions of american euros. They came in and immediately slashed 30% of work force (1k in UK alone). It took about a year or so in UK due to consultations, somewhat significantly quicker in other places (elon-type slash in US).
2 years later there was another reorganisation as things did not work as intended (following good will write offs connected to this acquisition), customer satisfaction went through the floor. another 30% of remaining (world wide, 500+ UK) went.
2 years later - third round of consultations, portfolio divestment etc. handed in my voluntary and said enough.

I think another divestment and reduction session happened couple of year ago.


las I remember, in 2019 Europe wide we were doing half of what North Europe (UK and Nordics) was doing in 2014...

so yes, I know what happens when layoffs hit and how it hits the morale, which then transitions into performance of remaining staff, which then trickles down to customers and eventually feeds back to reduced order intake, which lead to additional layoffs, which then....

 

[MrBadger]

Basically feels like he's looked at the Chinese threat, decided he cannot compete with them so is giving up on that side of the business and trying to do something he feels they have a strong advantage in and they will need Tesla for.

What bit do the Chinese need Tesla for?

I suspect his recent trip to China (after pissing off India by cancelling them, possibly a decision he will be regretting) will have opened his eyes about how far Tesla are behind the Chinese wrt EV and self driving. His trip coincided with Beijing motor show that Tesla didn’t exhibit at, rumoured to because the Chinese offerings would have totally eclipsed Tesla’s long in the tooth offerings.

This also coincided with several tests of autonomous vehicles driving the streets that also far exceeded Tesla’s offering.

Tesla need China more than China needs Tesla, if they need Tesla at all.

I can see that might put someone in a bit of a bad mood.

 

[Durzel]

Maybe Musk shouldn't have been singularly focused on FSD in America only? Tesla is a very American centric company, everyone else seems to get whatever works and can be offered with minimal refactoring. Look how long it took for us to get matrix light functionality? 3 full years after the hardware started being fitted. See also: LHD S & X, FSD going backwards instead of progressing, etc.

If China allows their domestic manufacturers to do self-driving on the road, then surely there's no reason Tesla couldn't have identified the need to get their kit going out there, unless they already tacitly conceded that they can't match the Chinese self-driving tech?

 

[init6]

oh, on contrary ))

I have been in a company which was acquired by the Fortune 500 company for few tens of billions of american euros. They came in and immediately slashed 30% of work force (1k in UK alone). It took about a year or so in UK due to consultations, somewhat significantly quicker in other places (elon-type slash in US).
2 years later there was another reorganisation as things did not work as intended (following good will write offs connected to this acquisition), customer satisfaction went through the floor. another 30% of remaining (world wide, 500+ UK) went.
2 years later - third round of consultations, portfolio divestment etc. handed in my voluntary and said enough.

I think another divestment and reduction session happened couple of year ago.


las I remember, in 2019 Europe wide we were doing half of what North Europe (UK and Nordics) was doing in 2014...

so yes, I know what happens when layoffs hit and how it hits the morale, which then transitions into performance of remaining staff, which then trickles down to customers and eventually feeds back to reduced order intake, which lead to additional layoffs, which then....

You answered your own question then

 

[yessuz]

You answered your own question then

and my question was...?

 

[yessuz]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/business/tesla-layoffs-supercharger-team.html

 

[bredi]

We won't be buying another Tesla as long as Musk is at the helm. I think he wants a company with zero employees lol.

that is the fantasy of all corporate executives and investment groups.

 

[12Pack]

What bit do the Chinese need Tesla for?

I suspect his recent trip to China (after pissing off India by cancelling them, possibly a decision he will be regretting) will have opened his eyes about how far Tesla are behind the Chinese wrt EV and self driving. His trip coincided with Beijing motor show that Tesla didn’t exhibit at, rumoured to because the Chinese offerings would have totally eclipsed Tesla’s long in the tooth offerings.

This also coincided with several tests of autonomous vehicles driving the streets that also far exceeded Tesla’s offering.

Tesla need China more than China needs Tesla, if they need Tesla at all.

I can see that might put someone in a bit of a bad mood.

China are getting better at the batteries themselves, but Tesla are still ahead in EV efficiency, and also (yes - eye roll) autonomous driving software. China are very aggressive to be in on any future technologies regardless of potential success. They still chafe from being behind in semiconductors.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/business/elon-musk-tesla-china-full-self-driving.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 

[Roy Batty]

Presumably owners of Cybertrucks are now in a bit of a limbo now with the rollout of 1000V Superchargers paused indefinitely.

 

[MrBadger]

and also (yes - eye roll) autonomous driving software.

Apparently not. A recent comparison /test of several Chinese solutions, including by people well versed in autonomy solutions with no bias, apparently showed that the Chinese versions were far more capable than Teslas offering.

And tbh, EV efficiency isn’t really a useful benchmark as long as range is suitable for intended purpose. Lots of reasons why efficiency isn’t a good comparison to use.

What has occurred recently with EMs trip to China sounds like he has been caught napping.

As long as there are lots of viable and interesting EVs, then it doesn’t really matter who makes them.

Sounds like China don’t see Tesla as interesting. Just expensive and stale.

 

[FastLaneJB]

In theory I think they'll be fine in the US because the US government will put in a controls to protect their own car makers in their own market.

Asia though is completely lost probably to all western companies, Australia looks to be snapping up cheap Chinese EV's as they have no auto market of their own to protect so let them in without issue.

Europe is a bit of an unknown, there's a car market to protect but we also need materials and batteries among other things from China to make EV's. Not really sure we have the software either. So we are probably a little restricted on what we can do. I think European cars will have to just play in the expensive / luxury segment and give up the low price, high volume to the Chinese.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Maybe Musk shouldn't have been singularly focused on FSD in America only?

Personally I think he should have been focused on doing it on motorways and whatever the American equivalents are. No pedestrians to worry about, no complex junctions, good signage, etc etc and get that to L3 or L4. It would have been quicker to a proper, albeit restricted level of automonomy and something I'd have bought, especially in the days when I was doing 30k miles a year up and down UK motorways. I've less interest in the car driving me to go shopping, the only real utility for city streets driving is picking me up from the pub.

Which is what the Germans are doing.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Personally I think he should have been focused on doing it on motorways and whatever the American equivalents are. No pedestrians to worry about, no complex junctions, good signage, etc etc and get that to L3 or L4. It would have been quicker to a proper, albeit restricted level of automonomy and something I'd have bought, especially in the days when I was doing 30k miles a year up and down UK motorways. I've less interest in the car driving me to go shopping, the only real utility for city streets driving is picking me up from the pub.

Which is what the Germans are doing.

More than the pub, if it could ferry the kids around to their friends, sports activities and the like that would be grand That might be worth the price of FSD.

 

[gangzoom]

What a shame, if it continues this way I won't be ordering another Tesla when mine is up for renewal in a years time, it's be back to an ICE car.

Without a team to support the Tesla SC network its going to fall apart very quickly. I wouldn't own/run any EV if the Tesla SC network folds.

The writing is on the wall for EVs I fear. Battery replacement costs for 10 year old cars will soon start to hit the headlines, and it'll than be game over.

I'll eat humble pie, as I mocked Toyota years ago for sticking with hybrids, looking at our two cars on driveway now, I more than 50% sure now we'll end up with another Lexus hybrid rather than replacing our existing Lexus hybrid come 2030.

Infact once our house renovations are done I might to start proactively look at how to get our of the X and into a RX for the lowest cost.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Without a team to support the Tesla SC network its going to fall apart very quickly. I wouldn't own/run any EV if the Tesla SC network folds.

The writing is on the wall for EVs I fear. Battery replacement costs for 10 year old cars will soon start to hit the headlines, and it'll than be game over.

I'll eat humble pie, as I mocked Toyota years ago for sticking with hybrids, looking at our two cars on driveway now, I more than 50% sure now we'll end up with another Lexus hybrid rather than replacing our existing Lexus hybrid come 2030.

Infact once our house renovations are done I might to start proactively look at how to get our of the X and into a RX for the lowest cost.

I think I’ve said in the past but often got rubbished over it but the solution to this issue is longer range cars. I don’t mean of course by making them hugely heavier at current densities but from chemistry improvements. Yes that helps make cheaper city run arounds but cars at Model 3 class and higher don’t need to be hugely cheaper but could benefit from that range improvement.

Mercedes new G class EV coming out soon, in just 2 years they claim they’ll have an up to 40% more dense battery in it than what it’s going to come with as an option. Sure I think it’ll be more expensive initially because they can charge more and it’ll be low volume but the tech is coming for this. Also why EV’s will continue to depreciate so much until the rate of change slows.

Larger batteries don’t even tend to take longer to charge as they can stay on a higher charge speed for longer, people have to stop less often so less demand on the charging networks.

Maybe Tesla won’t do this because Elon’s famously said 300 miles is all you need but it’s pretty obvious the rest of the auto industry at least currently is looking to grow the range of EV’s and put bigger batteries in when the chemistry allows.

 

[Durzel]

The vast majority of journeys are still less than 5 miles, so whilst extreme distance EVs ought to be a goal it isn't what is holding things back.

EVs would be viable if the Government were suitably motivated to make it happen. A quarter of all cars in Norway are EVs.

Kerb side charging, greasing the wheels/providing incentives for charging companies to accelerate rollouts, etc.

There's no money and no will, which leaves EVs as basically the preserve of businesses (until if/when BIK changes) and homeowners with drives.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I think Norway penalises ICE as much as it actively encourages EVs. Purchase tax is based on a mixture of weight, CO2 and NOx emissions, so I guess a government could encourage EV sales by making ICE more expensive and possibly using the extra tax to fund EV measures, but there would also be an outcry from those in rural communities, those on low income, those without the ability to charge at home etc etc .. whether rightly or wrongly.

 

[bainsy]

Had a few SUC passed planning approval in my area - probably means they wont continue with them? Construction hasnt started at the sites.

It could well be a massive overreaction, but lets see where this goes, I highly doubt Tesla abandon the idea SUC will not be rolling out anymore.

 

[browellm]

Had a few SUC passed planning approval in my area - probably means they wont continue with them? Construction hasnt started at the sites.

It could well be a massive overreaction, but lets see where this goes, I highly doubt Tesla abandon the idea SUC will not be rolling out anymore.

Sure. His army of blue tick cryptobros are ready to take up the slack.