Tesla CEO Elon Musk has implemented a cost-cutting approach that has resulted in at least 500 layoffs from the company’s Supercharger business. The layoffs included the division’s top executive, Rebecca Tinucci, and have had immediate effects such as bounced emails, stalled projects, and delayed adapters. The timing of these cuts coincided with Tesla’s plan to expand its charging infrastructure teams and make its vehicle charging plug the standard in North America. However, Musk has stated that the leaner team will focus on achieving “100 percent uptime” instead of deploying new Supercharger locations, raising concerns about the impact on response times to outages.
Despite Tesla’s claims of advancing its Supercharger network in quarterly documents filed with the SEC, the reality is quite the opposite. The company has canceled four locations in the New York area and backed out of leases, indicating slower installations moving forward. Emails to contacts at Tesla’s charging division have been bouncing back, causing frustration among contractors working on charging station installations. Projects to install Tesla’s slower Level 2 destination chargers at apartment complexes have also been affected, leaving condo owners like Don Burke in limbo as their emails to Tesla employees go unanswered.
Tesla’s cuts are also impacting the availability of CCS-to-NACS adapters that are intended for owners of Ford, Rivian, and GM electric vehicles. This delay in providing adapters to enable these vehicles to use Tesla’s Superchargers has caused frustration among owners who were expecting them earlier. The company’s Supercharger network is widely recognized as the gold standard in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, accounting for 74 percent of all fast chargers in North America. Tesla’s success in this area has been attributed to Rebecca Tinucci, who oversaw the company’s Supercharger locations and led various charging projects.
Tinucci, who recently opposed the magnitude of the layoffs, was let go along with most of the Supercharger team. This has raised concerns about the future of Tesla’s lead in the electric vehicle charging market. Additionally, projects such as a big contract with Hilton to install chargers at hotels may be affected by the layoffs, although the extent of the impact is uncertain. Some Ford owners have reported delays in receiving their fast-charging adapters, indicating potential disruptions in the broader electric vehicle ecosystem. Overall, the fallout from Tesla’s cost-cutting measures in the Supercharger business highlights the challenges and uncertainties facing the company and its stakeholders.