Superchargers in Australia

[Vostok]

I would have thought that it's not easy to just "let go" employees in Australia under the Fair Work Act etc.

If these are genuine redundancies (i.e. the entire SC division is no longer part of Tesla’s business and will remain so) then yes, people can be let go immediately provided all contractual employment obligations are paid out (notice periods, redundancy payments, leave and super entitlements etc).

The problem this might create is if Elon or the Board realizes the stupidity of what he’s just done, and reverses the decision and then tries to rebuild a SC team again. The original mass-sackings could very well then be construed under the Fair Work Act to have been a ruse to bypass employment law and simply get rid of people “at will” which is not permitted here. And that could open the door to unfair dismissal claims.

Businesses can’t make a whole bunch of roles “redundant” and then a couple of months later re-create those roles with slightly different names and then hire new people into them. The original “redundancies” are very unlikely to be considered “genuine” in that case.

 

[Vostok]

Nothing matters apart from the customer experience

Tesla’s contractors, construction and business partners are also their “customers”. What about their experience of what just happened?

 

[Vostok]

Like I said, he's not perfect and you have to take the good with the bad.

There is no such obligation to do that… “the standards you walk past are the standards you accept”.

 

[moa999]

Tesla’s contractors, construction and business partners are also their “customers”. What

Agreed.
And if you are looking at building a big battery, or solar farm, what additional risk factor due apply to a bid from Tesla, in case Elon nukes that unit.

There's Jack Welsh style 10% cuts, there are deeper cuts, and then there is this

 

[Quickst]

How does this decision support that mission in any way?

I am always enthused by people who swallowed that but never stopped to think that while its fantastic to think big, that the execution of that, btw, I would rather call it a dream, is several orders of magnitude more difficult than coming up with the dream.

The difficulties are playing out as we speak. Who says it was going to be easy?. Even the Rocketman himself has always been very clear that failure in whatever he does is always a very strong possibility. Question is, are you only a fair weather follower?

Musk was a visionary but not anymore

That's fine. For me, I follow no one and I have no expectations. I still think he is a visionary but a flawed one. However, I am also realistic enough to understand that the fulfilment of an electric world is hell of a lot more difficult than just a mission statement

Now, going back to the critical thinking level headed realist.

 

[Quickst]

He's completely off the rails.

Many would disagree

 

[Midnight Man]

It's clear RocketMan lit up a nuke.

I have to ask - who is this "RocketMan" people are speaking of please?

 

[RichardV]

I have to ask - who is this "RocketMan" people are speaking of please?

 

[Skurfer]

I have to ask - who is this "RocketMan" people are speaking of please?

Was thinking the same. I might have missed an in joke somewhere.

 

[RichardV]

Was thinking the same. I might have missed an in joke somewhere.

It's a nick name for Elon Musk, aka Rocket Man, aka Elmo.

 

[SPadival]

The nickname Rocket Man is from the documentary:

 

[rx80]

Unbelievable the number of people defending Musk and the decision on superchargers in this thread. For some reason I thought people would be more level headed and critical of thought in this community.

I think from what I see, this is due to them having a "skin in the game", so to speak. ie: they have shares in Tesla either directly or indirectly.
Obviously not everyone but the majority who always speaks positively about Musk whatever he does, are.

In my opinion, sure Musk might have a better plan for the SC team, but there are better ways to do that professionally. I also think if we put ourselves in the contractor's shoe, we'd probably sing a different tune and say the company we're dealing with is unprofessional.

 

[forgetful duck]

Very abrupt and feels like a betrayal of expectations. When a customer buys a Tesla, they bought with confidence of an expanding SC network.

Thought experiment: what if one day out the blue Tesla announces cessation of support for exisitng customer cars as they transition to 100% robo taxies. Sounds outrageous but is it really not a possibility?

 

[SPadival]

supercharge.info has an unofficial X account that automatically sends any update as a post.

https://x.com/superchargefeed

They have reported at least 20 new supercharger sites getting opened in the last 2 days, most of them in China. Not bad for a pause

 

[Quickst]

they bought with confidence of an expanding SC network.

Many would have bought into the car/mission/dream with that expectation in mind. Just like many paid $xx,xxx that FSD will be a reality in the lifetime of their current car. I remind myself that in the context of cars, the Rocketman is no more than a car salesman and so I've always had a very low expectation that the dream/mission of driving anywhere without having to have a preplanned charging strategy will be fully realised. So when Rocketman interferes with the dream, I'm not so affected that I am throwing the toys out of the cot.

Of course the perspective might differ depending on the degree to which someone is invested whether it be Shareholder/contractor/employee/EV evangelist/EV owner/YTuber. The final result of the tactical Nuke remains to be quantified and might take months/years.

what if one day out the blue Tesla announces cessation of support for exisitng customer cars

RocketMan is already doing something similar. People who bought into the FSD dream are now finding out their FSD dream. in their existing cars is not yet a reality and RocketMan is not allowing a transfer to a new car. I would like to actually see the FSD purchase contract which may or may not state the expectations of FSD licence ownership. In the SC context, RocketMan's mission is to build a SC network, but whether it will be near a particular driver is actually not the mission or a particular timeline - did RocketMan ever publicly promise that?. I think the problem is like the FSD , people were over expecting, no doubt riding the wave of created by self appointed evangelists of the RocketMan's dream.

A ubiquitous SC/DCFC network should never be built by only one company. There should be lots of builders including other EV manufacturers and others. It's after all an insurance policy.

 

[Jules22]

For anyone actually interested in a balanced and level headed take on the situation

 

[SPadival]

Email from Tesla to their suppliers that Kyle was referring:

 

[advertisingfre]

If these are genuine redundancies (i.e. the entire SC division is no longer part of Tesla’s business and will remain so) then yes, people can be let go immediately provided all contractual employment obligations are paid out (notice periods, redundancy payments, leave and super entitlements etc).

The problem this might create is if Elon or the Board realizes the stupidity of what he’s just done, and reverses the decision and then tries to rebuild a SC team again. The original mass-sackings could very well then be construed under the Fair Work Act to have been a ruse to bypass employment law and simply get rid of people “at will” which is not permitted here. And that could open the door to unfair dismissal claims.

Businesses can’t make a whole bunch of roles “redundant” and then a couple of months later re-create those roles with slightly different names and then hire new people into them. The original “redundancies” are very unlikely to be considered “genuine” in that case.

I'm sure businesses have a big team of lawyers who defines what "genuine" is.

 

[Vostok]

Email from Tesla to their suppliers that Kyle was referring:
View attachment 1044190

The fact that email was even needed to be sent is proof of the completely unprofessional, incoherent and unacceptable way this whole thing was handled.

Businesses can have dramatic and sudden changes in direction, but if that business is well-run, executives work out how beforehand how to make the transition as painless as possible, work out what that transition plan is and exactly what it looks like - names of who will do what and when, dates and timelines, transitional structure etc.

Then that transition plan is ready to roll out the instant the announcement is made so that people affected (customers, contractors, suppliers, business partner etc.) have continuity. Not having continuity is one of the worst things you can do to business partners.

Tesla shouldn’t be asking partners to be “patient” while “new leadership roles” and “streamlining our payment procedures” are worked out - because those things should have already been worked out and ready to announce.

You can possibly excuse a small or medium sized business making screw-ups like this because they probably don’t have experience and knowledge in how to properly handle situations like this.

But there is no excuse for a multibillion dollar listed company to behave this way. Although some here keep trying to pretend this is all cool and normal and defend it as completely acceptable.

 

[Vostok]

I'm sure businesses have a big team of lawyers who defines what "genuine" is.

They would try, but the law defines what genuine is, not the lawyers.

Elon has partly dug his own grave here by saying Tesla will continue to do some SC work - site expansions and a much slower rollout of new sites.

His own statements would therefore be entered into evidence that he never intended to completely exit the SC business (which would make the redundancies genuine), just to significantly reshape it.

Prima facie, that could make sacking the entire SC team not a genuine act of redundancy, because there is a stated intention that some of the roles will continue through re-hiring. And that is unlawful in Australia.

Obviously the situation in every country is different and US states. I understand California permits “at will” sackings, and so Elon’s actions are not problematic there.