Supercharger team sacked?

[GeorgeSymonds]

It’s a shame he wasn’t so quick to jump on the nagative press after the supercharger team news as he was on the Reuters article about the Model 2, maybe he really doesn’t see the significance.

They’ve said existing projects are to continue if work has started, and they’re using 3rd parties for the build, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re looking for new locations, starting new projects etc

Like everything you sometimes have to look at what’s not said as that still leaves questions to me

 

[FastLaneJB]

It’s a shame he wasn’t so quick to jump on the nagative press after the supercharger team news as he was on the Reuters article about the Model 2, maybe he really doesn’t see the significance.

They’ve said existing projects are to continue if work has started, and they’re using 3rd parties for the build, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re looking for new locations, starting new projects etc

Like everything you sometimes have to look at what’s not said as that still leaves questions to me

I agree. He says this on X now but then there’s the email telling people to halt all sites if they haven’t already started construction. Was that a short term halt because frankly they didn’t know what was going on without their Supercharger team or is it a permanent we won’t build those sites out anymore. If it’s the later, then that’s not good at all.

I suspect he has noticed the backlash on this one, realised he’s made an error as even strong Tesla supporters have been highly critical of this and he’s backtracking without saying he was wrong.

I at least hope he’s backtracking. Not like the transition to EV’s is complete and no more charger growth is needed, so far away from a steady state.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Tesla To Spend “Well Over $500M” To Build “Thousands New SuperChargers” in 2024, CEO Says - EV

This article has an email they’ve sent out to customers in Australia around the Supercharger network. Does seem like they’ve (Elon) realised this was a mistake.

Wonder if we’ll get an email in the UK and other markets.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Yeah he’s going all in trying to fix this mistake now I think.

 

[Jason71]

Yeah he’s going all in trying to fix this mistake now I think.

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your definition of "all in" and mine are very different I think

 

[FastLaneJB]

your definition of "all in" and mine are very different I think

He's never going to put his hand up and admit he was wrong on this. I think the 2 posts about Superchargers in short order, the email going out to customers in Australia and I assume other markets soonish also. It's a backtrack from his position of just growing existing sites. He'd not be posting things about how much money they plan to spend this year on growth if the news hadn't blown up over this.

Maybe my wording is slightly wrong but as "all in" on backtracking as a CEO like Elon would do as I don't think just a week+ after he fired his whole supercharger team he's going to post on X "My bad guys, was having a rough week, the team looked at me funny so I just fired the lot of them". I do think though this is Elon doing damage control.

I mean they called me the other day to give me an update on my Highland order and I told them I was having second thoughts now Tesla is pulling back from the Supercharger network. I have a test drive of a BMW X7 tomorrow, this news though might make me reconsider but when I ordered the Highland it was a sure fire to go a 2 x EV's and no ICE cars. I'm still not quite so sure but this does help and might well sway me to stick with my order.

I wonder if it had already started to impact their sales in last week or so.

 

[KennethS]

I agree. He says this on X now but then there’s the email telling people to halt all sites if they haven’t already started construction. Was that a short term halt because frankly they didn’t know what was going on without their Supercharger team or is it a permanent we won’t build those sites out anymore. If it’s the later, then that’s not good at all.

I think you should go back and re-read the communication Tesla supposedly sent out as reported in Electrek. To my reading it was not a statement that all new sites were on permanent hold (ie canceled) but on a temporary pause. Not singling you out but once again the alarmists have gone all in and in this case interpreted this as the cessation of all new sites globally (and some even go as far as saying the maintenance of existing sites is also terminated). I suggest we wait and see. I don't think Tesla is abandoning the supercharger network. But perhaps it is time that other car manufacturers step up their efforts in building out sites for all as well. To date, Tesla hasn't really run these as profit centres but as a necessary component to EV adoption and acceptance. My hope is that this approach doesn't change as drastically as some are asserting.

 

[browellm]

I think you should go back and re-read the communication Tesla supposedly sent out as reported in Electrek. To my reading it was not a statement that all new sites were on permanent hold (ie canceled) but on a temporary pause. Not singling you out but once again the alarmists have gone all in and in this case interpreted this as the cessation of all new sites globally (and some even go as far as saying the maintenance of existing sites is also terminated). I suggest we wait and see. I don't think Tesla is abandoning the supercharger network. But perhaps it is time that other car manufacturers step up their efforts in building out sites for all as well. To date, Tesla hasn't really run these as profit centres but as a necessary component to EV adoption and acceptance. My hope is that this approach doesn't change as drastically as some are asserting.

Do you think firing 500 people was proportionate to "a temporary pause"? It was a petulant tantrum.

 

[KennethS]

Do you think firing 500 people was proportionate to "a temporary pause"? It was a petulant tantrum.

I never defended the action. Just think the prognostications of the end of the Supercharger network might be premature.

 

[FastLaneJB]

I think you should go back and re-read the communication Tesla supposedly sent out as reported in Electrek. To my reading it was not a statement that all new sites were on permanent hold (ie canceled) but on a temporary pause. Not singling you out but once again the alarmists have gone all in and in this case interpreted this as the cessation of all new sites globally (and some even go as far as saying the maintenance of existing sites is also terminated). I suggest we wait and see. I don't think Tesla is abandoning the supercharger network. But perhaps it is time that other car manufacturers step up their efforts in building out sites for all as well. To date, Tesla hasn't really run these as profit centres but as a necessary component to EV adoption and acceptance. My hope is that this approach doesn't change as drastically as some are asserting.

I don't expect other car companies to do too much here. They do have some investments in some other networks but I imagine they'll pull out when they can.

It's one thing to run a loss leading part of the company to drive sales of Tesla's but opening up the network probably means they are running a loss leading part of the company that's helping competitors avoid having to invest as much in EV charging while also hurting their own sales because now they've lost that tie in benefit they had when it was exclusive.

I think if I was Elon and knowing the threat from the Chinese EV companies. I'd stop taking government cash for chargers, make it Tesla only again on as many sites as they legally can do (Where not already committed to be open when taking government money) and double down on this as the one advantage they have that the Chinese cannot easily compete with. Probably too late by this point of course.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Do you think firing 500 people was proportionate to "a temporary pause"? It was a petulant tantrum.

Agreed, the messaging showed what they are saying today doesn't align with a week+ ago.

1. Fires Supercharger team
2. Email saying to stop development on new sites, very disorganised with the basic message being to bear with them while they workout who they are, who you are and how they might be able to pay for the work.
3. Elon posts on X and says just focusing on mostly expanding existing sites and focusing on higher uptime. Very much speaks of not much investment in new sites.
4. Email seen in Australia sent from Tesla to a supplier that went out saying no new supercharger locations globally moving forwards.

It might well end up being a temporary pause now but I think it's clear that wasn't the plan when he laid them all off, the plan seems to have changed.

 

[Durzel]

Tesla To Spend “Well Over $500M” To Build “Thousands New SuperChargers” in 2024, CEO Says - EV

This article has an email they’ve sent out to customers in Australia around the Supercharger network. Does seem like they’ve (Elon) realised this was a mistake.

Wonder if we’ll get an email in the UK and other markets.

This and the "Supercharger Community" thing just reaffirms in my head that this was a knee jerk meltdown over some pushback from someone who knew more about that side of the business than he does, rather than a considered decision. Probably didn't help that she was a woman either, she ought to have been popping babies out constantly to save humanity (or something) instead of getting all uppity with The Man Who Knows All.

Walking this back like this just looks weak. It has all the hallmarks of a senior exec trying to take over and run a social media account after they booted the person who was actually responsible for it.

 

[gangzoom]

Walking this back like this just looks weak. It has all the hallmarks of a senior exec trying to take over and run a social media account after they booted the person who was actually responsible for it.

There is a reason why in most organisations senior leadership teams seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time on sometimes what seems like simple binary decisions. Leaking or signaling news through informal communication channels, trying to get a feel of the organisation mood etc etc. The decision making process the Bank of England has on interest rates is the rule book on how to communicate changes in direction without scarying everyone, contrasting to how Liz Truss communicated her economic plans.

Musk clearly isn't use to, or understand the basics of subservient leadership, but ultimately without consent from the work force, leaders are nothing more than paper weights.

Having been there and done that on a much, much, much smaller scale, essentially an epic fail in reading the room, I can personally say there is nothing wrong with doing a U turn or admiting fault as a leader.

Its good to see Musk at least has some sense, it reminds me of the Sam Altman situation. Honestly, if our finances weren't so comitted elsewhere right now, I susepct I would driving a different car today.

As ever though, action speaks louder than words, ongoing expansion of the SC network is the only strategy that aligns with Teslas mission statement.

Sam Altman rehired as OpenAI CEO just days after firing

It's been quite a week for ChatGPT creator OpenAI. In a dramatic u-turn, ousted CEO Sam Altman has been rehired. And he'll be joined by a new board.

www.euronews.com

 

[Durzel]

Not sure I’d say he has much sense around this since he hasn’t walked back the original decision to wipe the whole team out. Tinucci and the ~500 strong team are still out of a job. He hasn’t admitted fault or done a U-turn.

It’s possible that - like Twitter - he ultimately decides he has to try and rehire some of the people he fired, which again looks incompetent to me but perhaps is not uncommon in US tech circles?

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I don’t know if there are HR legislation issues admitting you got something wrong like this, and presumably this is in multiple countries with different laws. Making a whole business function redundant is probably easier than taking out 30% and having to go through a selection process and dealing with all the ramifications of being seen not to discriminate etc. if you decide you should have only cut that 30% do you have to rehire everyone and do the process properly? Do you take back redundancy payments? Real dogs dinner potentially.

That said it would be nice if he admitted he over cooked it, it would be a sign of strength to me. Pretending (or worse still, believing) you don’t get things wrong is not a good trait to have if you want to be a leader.

 

[init6]

I was always under the impression that US companies could fire without justification, so I doubt they'd have to go through a selection process. (Where are the American posters when you need them? )
When I worked for an American company they were always grappling with UK and European employment laws. I suspect that Tesla are still consulting with the German Workers Councils and the Spanish are still on siesta so haven't heard the news yet

 

[phil4]

I love how we're all experienced CEO's here, having run our respective massive multinationals for years.

As init6 says, laws are different over there. And we've zero clue what they workers actually did day to day, why it was they lost their jobs or any idea what the strategy is.

We can all speculate, but we're not there, we don't have the info, and realistically we also don't have the experience (me included). Far far too many unknowns for us to pass judgement I think. The only view we can have authority on is what effect it has on us, the end user if the press's "impression" is true.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Not sure I’d say he has much sense around this since he hasn’t walked back the original decision to wipe the whole team out. Tinucci and the ~500 strong team are still out of a job. He hasn’t admitted fault or done a U-turn.

It’s possible that - like Twitter - he ultimately decides he has to try and rehire some of the people he fired, which again looks incompetent to me but perhaps is not uncommon in US tech circles?

I took redundancy last year from a large US tech firm, I volunteered as the package was amazing and I didn't really like the job anyway so had been considering on leaving. About 1.5 months after they asked me if I'd be interested in returning...

In this case they just go through a round of cutting people before the financial report comes out to help bump the stock price, they don't need to cut people and are still making an absolute killing. US companies just treat people like they are more disposable and technically you are because you don't have the laws protecting you like we do in Europe. They don't always obey the laws properly either in Europe but they actually pay so much in redundancy that it's more than you'd get if you took them to court anyway so effectively they buy themselves out of having to follow our laws fully.

 

[Durzel]

I love how we're all experienced CEO's here, having run our respective massive multinationals for years.

As init6 says, laws are different over there. And we've zero clue what they workers actually did day to day, why it was they lost their jobs or any idea what the strategy is.

We can all speculate, but we're not there, we don't have the info, and realistically we also don't have the experience (me included). Far far too many unknowns for us to pass judgement I think. The only view we can have authority on is what effect it has on us, the end user if the press's "impression" is true.

It’s not a stretch to imagine that this 500 strong team did something that was important, though. You don’t need to be a CEO to see that when another one calls for a 10-20% cull, gets pushback, and then wipes the entire team out that it probably wasn’t a rational, considered decision.

Or to put it another way - you don’t need to be a chef to know when something tastes like s**t.

 

[zoomer0056]

Yeah he’s going all in trying to fix this mistake now I think.

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I see you're not following @elonmusk.