Entire Supercharging Team Fired?

News yesterday is that the entire 500+ person word-wide SC team has been let go. That is alarming. Why would Elon sack the execs and all the employees of this important part of Tesla's business? Could Tesla be selling the SC network off to a third party? Opinions? Other theories?

 

[alexgr]

Yawn. It can be anything but *not* Elon acting irrational. Fanboy 101.

You must have too much trust in Elon's bandwidth capacity to plan and manage a layoff of a department. Edit: I mean single-handedly

 

[alexgr]

Yawn. It can be anything but *not* Elon acting irrational. Fanboy 101.

Also, you might be surprised how St.Donald acts as a typical CEO... and it is not irrational.... cuz it works.

 

[alexgr]

Fanboy 101.

Also-also. I just sad to my guys never-Tesla-again is probably way forward. So, fanboy I am not.

 

[DrChaos]

Others are stepping into market to pickup the burden of building out the network, using Tesla's product, which means Tesla doesn't need to be the sole bill payer to do the initial install construction of the network.

Like J.D. Rockefeller thinking "hey why dont I pause on those gasoline stations and let my competitors do it"?

Never. Now is the time to go forward with maximum force and gain decades of unassailable revenue and marketing and customer data.

 

[DrChaos]

It's no longer a competitive advantage when all EVs can access the network.

the competition is still nearly all ICE cars

 

[DuncanM]

The fact that Roswell / NM doesn’t have an SC and you can’t do Dallas-Ft.Worth to Ruidoso / NM without taking an insane detour is annoying…

Roswell has 4 x CP120KW CCS1 posts and 2 x more CCS1 posts (and at least 2 x Chaedemo) via Francis Energy. Maybe try and find a Chaedemo to Tesla adapter.

 

[terranx]

My 2019 Model 3 isn’t CCS adapter compatible and the SC can’t tell me if/when there’s a retrofit …

They've had the retrofits for the early ones for a while now. It should be in the app.

 

[SalisburySam]

The robotaxi launch will necessitate true level 5 (unsupervised) near-flawless FSD. This will hopefully trickle down to all other models and resolve phantom braking once and for all!

Sure, let’s go with that.

 

[nickg_6]

I think supercharger are so much less glamorous vs you know FSD, AI, and the robotaxi that they much more dear and "cool". Also getting a new cheaper model for the masses, yes much less star/headlines worthy.

cheers

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Because it remains their largest competitive advantage and sells lots of cars... something they're having some challenges with at the moment?

Also, since when is Tesla not "the private sector?"

Open Market,,,, you know what I meant. Also the freaking competitive advantaged ended the day Tesla opened the network up to all their competition. The challenge at the moment for selling cars is the FED and these ridiculous interest rates. Also reduction in sales in China due to BYD product diversity/market entry.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

A tip I've got from a finance exec: suspect widespread developers or mid management level kickback deals unearthed as a reason for the entire department fire in one day.

I hope this isn't true, because it has legal liabilities for the employees involved, as well as the vendors, but this is the best way to fix insubordination/corruption.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

Open Market,,,, you know what I meant. Also the freaking competitive advantaged ended the day Tesla opened the network up to all their competition. The challenge at the moment for selling cars is the FED and these ridiculous interest rates. Also reduction in sales in China due to BYD product diversity/market entry.

seems like the industry overall saw increasing car sales throughout 2023 YoY and Q1 2024 was again up YoY. Odd. Maybe it's more complicated than Elmo claims....

US Vehicle Sales in Q1 Display Continued Demand Momentum

In the first quarter of 2024, U.S. vehicle sales continue to see upward momentum due to improvements in inventory levels and better pricing.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[stopcrazypp]

seems like the industry overall saw increasing car sales throughout 2023 YoY and Q1 2024 was again up YoY. Odd. Maybe it's more complicated than Elmo claims....

US Vehicle Sales in Q1 Display Continued Demand Momentum

In the first quarter of 2024, U.S. vehicle sales continue to see upward momentum due to improvements in inventory levels and better pricing.

finance.yahoo.com

EV sales are down though from the same report and some of those numbers are numbers to the retail channel (the dealer is their "customer") and not necessarily to the end user. Also it seems other than Lexus, the premium divisions of all the brands saw significant decline, while it's the economy division that saw increases. That indicates people may be moving to cheaper cars and while that may increase volume, the overall revenue may not necessarily go up as much.

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

So how about this? Can we get a commitment on when the long promised and long overdue superchargers (such as in Mountain Home, ID, due originally in 2022 then in 2023 and now?) Seems like that is a relevant post and fair question. I saw in some FB Tesla owner group where some UT dude was saying he had voted for Elon's extra compensation or bonus or whatever because Elon had delivered on his previous promises. Given this, I just don't see it that way.

 

[stopcrazypp]

So how about this? Can we get a commitment on when the long promised and long overdue superchargers (such as in Mountain Home, ID, due originally in 2022 then in 2023 and now?) Seems like that is a relevant post and fair question. I saw in some FB Tesla owner group where some UT dude was saying he had voted for Elon's extra compensation or bonus or whatever because Elon had delivered on his previous promises. Given this, I just don't see it that way.

Tesla never gave such commitments even when they had a whole team and I don't see them giving it going forward either. There typically is zero benefit to giving such commitments given sometimes projects fall through or get delayed for various factors that is not necessarily under your control.

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

Tesla never gave such commitments even when they had a whole team and I don't see them giving it going forward either. There typically is zero benefit to giving such commitments given sometimes projects fall through or get delayed for various factors that is not necessarily under your control.

The app clearly stated Mountain home by first, 2022, then later 2023. Call it an estimate or plan if you want. And it specifically got pushed. I have a hard time believing, when other DCFC's have come online in the area, that Tesla was prevented from constructing as stated as planned. looks to me like the delay in this case was precisely within Tesla's control

 

[chinney]

The plot thickens:

Good video.

As I noted in an earlier post, Tesla has not accompanied the Supercharger layoffs with responsibly communicating its future plans to its customers who rely on the network. Based on what we know, and as further indicated in the video, it also has not responsibly communicated its plans to other auto manufacturers who have signed onto the Supercharger network or to the various suppliers and partners who are/were working on developing Supercharger locations; indeed, those remaining at Tesla do not even know how to get into contact with those partners or how to pay bills that are owing. Nor has Tesla responsibly communicated its plans about a key part of its technical infrastructure to its investors.

Whatever the ultimate reason for and outcome of this change, it also matters how it is done. The arbitrary and chaotic manner it is happening reflects very poorly on the leadership of Tesla and undermines confidence of those who might consider dealing with the company in the future, whether as customers, employees, suppliers, investors or business partners.

 

[gearchruncher]

For all our focus on NACS and what this means in the USA, let's not forget that the Supercharger team built out charging infrastructure across the world, and this has impacts on EV adoption everywhere. It also very much appears that "superchargers in process will be finished" is a defined narrowly:

EXCLUSIVE: Tesla Supercharger roll-out in Australia stopped as job losses at Tesla end new development

Massive news in the world of Electric Vehicles this week with Tesla laying off around 500 staff including what appears to be their entire Supercharger

eftm.com

 

[gearchruncher]

I hope this isn't true, because it has legal liabilities for the employees involved, as well as the vendors, but this is the best way to fix insubordination/corruption.

Given Elon is such a strong adherent to the law, clean ethics, transparent financials and long term stability, I agree that it makes perfect sense to fire all of the people designing supercharger hardware because a few people on the land lease side were getting a kickback. Even better is to do this with a "dear employee" email in the middle of the night and not have any messaging to your customers at all.

It's absolutely the best way for Tesla and all their customers, no doubt. Good job Elon for making a hard decision after a lot of careful thought. It must be really draining for him. He deserves to go take a break from that hard work and spend a few hours tweeting a bunch of right wing conspiracy theories to relax, so it's a good thing he's done that a lot since that email on Tuesday morning. Shareholders should drop another $1B on him for his excellence. He deserves it.

 

[Dirtman16]

Whatever the ultimate reason for and outcome of this change, it also matters how it is done. The arbitrary and chaotic manner it is happening reflects very poorly on the leadership of Tesla and undermines confidence of those who might consider dealing with the company in the future, whether as customers, employees, suppliers, investors or business partners.

Bingo! It's a impulsive, short-sighted decision that will cost them long term. Existing customers will hesitate to upgrade, new customers will think twice about the benefit of the Supercharger network, employees will be less loyal and may not work as hard, and vendors may not prioritize Tesla's projects like they have in the past.