Tesla decided to lay off almost its entire ‘Supercharger’ division, in charge of building its vast network of public charging stations in the US. It is a blow to major automakers in the country that were looking to use the network.
The decision to cut the group of nearly 500 people, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by Elon Musk in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move comes in addition to staff cuts of more than 10 percent ordered in mid-April.
The move will slow the network’s growth, according to a person familiar with the division, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The possibility of rehiring some of those affected in order to operate the existing network and grow it at a much slower pace is already being discussed, the person said. In a post on X, Musk confirmed that network growth would be slower.
Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focused on 100 percent uptime and expansion of existing locations.
The workforce cuts have caused confusion and concern among executives at rival companies such as Rivian Automotive, according to another person familiar with the company’s internal discussions. Rivian, Ford Motor and General Motors are some of the automobile manufacturers who have adopted Tesla charging connectors for their cars.
Vehicles from these manufacturers were initially designed to use a standard called Combined Charging System, or CCS. In the US there are fewer CCS chargers than Tesla superchargers, which use what the company has called the North American Charging Standard, or NACS. The Tesla network It is also considered faster and more reliable.
The layoffs also mean that Rivian, Ford and others have lost their top contacts in the Tesla division ahead of the summer season. Tinucci was one of the main executives She was in charge of negotiating and managing external partnerships and was highly regarded, according to two people who had worked with her inside and outside Tesla.
Bloomberg confirmed that as of Tuesday Tinucci no longer appeared in the internal organizational charts. Tinucci, one of Tesla’s highest-ranking executives, spoke at the company’s investor day in March 2023. She did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the Supercharger team that manages third-party access to the network remains intact, according to one of the people. Tesla has been manufacturing CCS to NACS adapters and shipping them to partner automakers. Companies that have signed charging contracts with Tesla use the adapters primarily as a short-term solution. For example, Ford customers can now use the Supercharger network with an adapterand the technology will be incorporated into vehicles from 2025.
Rivian and Ford stated that they continue to send adapters to their customers. Ford informed the owners of its electric vehicles on Friday, April 27, before the removal of the equipment Tesla Supercharger, that deliveries could be delayed in some cases due to “limitations” with the supplier.
Tesla invests in Superchargers
Tesla has invested billions of dollars in creating a global network of Superchargers which has become the envy of other car manufacturers. It’s also a core driver of Tesla’s sales, and the automaker said the division was growing during its first-quarter results last week.
“Beginning in late February, we began opening our North American Supercharger network to more non-Tesla electric vehicle owners,” Tesla wrote in its shareholder report.
The Musk-led company has also signed charging deals with automakers such as Stellantis, Volvo, Polestar, Kia, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. It is unclear who will now oversee those partnerships. GM, Volvo and Polestar were due to open NACS chargers to their customers in the immediate future, according to Tesla’s website.
At the end of the first quarter, Tesla had 6,249 stations and more than 57,000 connectors. It has more fast chargers in the US than all other providers combined, according to BloombergNEF.
News of the layoffs was first reported by The Informationwhich cited a memo from Elon Musk.
