Elon Musk fires Tesla EV charging organisation Supercharge

Tesla Inc. on Wednesday announced the elimination of almost all of its  Supercharge organisation, responsible for building one of the largest public charging networks across the USA.  

Citing a person with knowledge of the situation, the Hindu Business Line reported that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk decided last week to fire the almost 500-member team, which included its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci. According to the report, this is on top of the more than 10% workforce reduction mandated in mid-April.

As per another source of the report, the decision will slow down the network's expansion. There have already been talks about rehiring some of the affected parties to manage the current network and expand it more gradually. Musk acknowledged in a post on X, that the network's expansion will decrease for the time being.

The update has left laid-off employees at least one other option– The Rivia Automiotive Inc.

Compared to Tesla Superchargers, which employ what Tesla refers to as the North American Charging Standard, there are fewer CCS chargers in the US. Additionally, Tesla's infrastructure is thought to be more dependable and swifter.

Just prior to the start of the hectic summer driving season, Rivian, Ford, and other parties lost their primary points of contact at Tesla's charging unit due to job eliminations. According to two individuals who have collaborated with Tinucci both within and outside of Tesla, she was regarded highly and was one of the key executives responsible for creating and overseeing external collaborations.

As of Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, Tinucci was removed from internal organisational charts. In March 2023, during the company's Investor Day, one of the most senior female executives at Tesla gave a speech. Requests for comments from her went unanswered.

The report further says that a portion of the Supercharger servicing crew, which oversees outside access to the network, is still in place. In Buffalo, New York, Tesla has started producing CCS-to-NACS adapters and distributing them to affiliated automakers. The adapters are mostly being used by businesses with Tesla charging contracts as a temporary solution.

Customers of Ford EVs, for instance, may currently utilise the Supercharger network with an adaptor; but, starting in 2025, the technology will be integrated into the cars.

According to remarks made public by Ford and Rivian, they are now providing adapters to their clients. Ford notified its electric vehicle customers that there may occasionally be delays in deliveries due to "constraints" with the supplier, before the sacking of the whole Tesla Supercharger crew on Friday.

Since it is often believed that having easy access to fast charging is essential to EV adoption, Tesla has spent billions of dollars building a global network of Superchargers that other manufacturers aspire to achieve. Additionally, the segment plays a crucial role in Tesla sales, and the automaker said last week that its growth was evident in its first-quarter statistics. 

In their shareholder presentation, Tesla stated, "We began opening our North American Supercharger Network to more non-Tesla EV owners at the end of February."

Additionally, the Tesla-led business has agreements to supply charging stations with automakers Stellantis NV, Volvo, Polestar, Kia, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, among others. Who will now be in charge of Tesla's alliances with such businesses is unclear. According to Tesla's website, GM, Volvo, and Polestar were all scheduled to make NACS chargers available to their customers in the near future.

After the first quarter, Tesla had more than 57,000 connections and 6,249 Supercharger stations. According to BloombergNEF, it has more fast chargers in the US than any other suppliers put together. The Supercharger crew layoffs were initially revealed by The Information, which used an Elon Musk memo as support.