Report: Tesla lays off entire Supercharger team! [Update: Elon Musk says supercharger growth will continue]

[Administrator]

Elon Musk makes first comment after supercharger team layoffs:

"Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations"

 

[Sjohnson20]

Elon Musk makes first comment after supercharger team layoffs:

"Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations"

Makes sense. They do have a lot of locations that need expanding or upgrading. Some are pretty slow now and also not enough spots.

 

[CTforTC]

Probably unrelated but here’s an anecdote that had me thinking the management of the Supercharger network could be better: About 14 months ago on Staten Island, a borough of 500k people with only one other 12-stall network, I saw 12 new chargers installed by a major supermarket and highway. It has been inactive the entire time — it never opened. One would think it would be a far shorter amount of time between installation and activation.

 

[Crissa]

Lots of speculation here, but my interpretation (yes, it's an informed guess) is that Mr. Musk wasn't happy about new Superchargers getting screens, payment terminals, etc. in order to receive NEVI funding and decided to just shut it all down - from the policy through the design and execution - and force the market to catch up to where Tesla already is the as the company more deliberately rations cash in the face of slower growth and lower prices.

...

Make no mistake, Musk is playing 6-10 moves ahead. The "why" on decisions like this won't be obvious to us in the outside world for many years to come when the results come in but it does fuel short-sellers abundant misunderstanding of Tesla.

No, Musk is wrong here.

He's crippling the company and cutting costs while the company is sitting on cash (it's grown by over 20% the last two quarters; while inflation reduced its purchasing power) and he's begging for more.

Payment kiosks are essential to support older vehicles, especially ones that are out of manufacturer support, and ones owned by people who are locked out of having credit.

Elon is further proving he needs to go; he's slowing down when he needs to be accelerating.

I saw 12 new chargers installed by a major supermarket and highway. It has been inactive the entire time — it never opened. One would think it would be a far shorter amount of time between installation and activation.

Permits and power source is out of Tesla's hands.

-Crissa

 

[Mini2nut]

There are slackers in every organization. Those who steadily collect a paycheck but don't pull their own weight. I'm confident that every forum member has worked with a slacker or two at one time or another.

It was time to cut the fat and trim down for the remaining quarters of 2024.

 

[carsly]

No, Musk is wrong here.

He's crippling the company and cutting costs while the company is sitting on cash (it's grown by over 20% the last two quarters; while inflation reduced its purchasing power) and he's begging for more.

Payment kiosks are essential to support older vehicles, especially ones that are out of manufacturer support, and ones owned by people who are locked out of having credit.

Elon is further proving he needs to go; he's slowing down when he needs to be accelerating.


Permits and power source is out of Tesla's hands.

-Crissa

Respectfully disagree. No one needs payment terminals and screens on chargers when smart phones have near 100% penetration - just start a charging session from an app if the vehicle doesn't support payment flows. Debit cards , payment cards and virtual debit cards also exist, chargers don't need to try to solve problems associated with being underbanked - there are other solutions in market for that.

Fewer points of failure lead to...fewer failures which then results in higher uptime and lower maintenance and upkeep expenses. Screens and payment processing on charger are dead approaches to the problem. They didn't work, let them RIP.

Mr. Musk is in classic wartime mode - focus the company on fewer things and accelerate, and dominate, the strategic spaces that matter.

Time will tell, we're just bumps on a log...

 

[CyberTW]

Respectfully disagree. No one needs payment terminals and screens on chargers when smart phones have near 100% penetration - just start a charging session from an app if the vehicle doesn't support payment flows. Debit cards , payment cards and virtual debit cards also exist, chargers don't need to try to solve problems associated with being underbanked - there are other solutions in market for that.

Fewer points of failure lead to...fewer failures which then results in higher uptime and lower maintenance and upkeep expenses. Screens and payment processing on charger are dead approaches to the problem. They didn't work, let them RIP.

Mr. Musk is in classic wartime mode - focus the company on fewer things and accelerate, and dominate, the strategic spaces that matter.

Time will tell, we're just bumps on a log...

I too disagree with Crissa here. “Musk needs go” is a silly emotional reaction we see far too often online. Not that there are many (or any) college football fans on here, but it’s like all those years Bama fans called for Nick Saban to step down because of 1 maybe 2 games.. just silly and irrational (those fans were). I see the same thing happening here

 

[Kahpernicus]

tesla is clearly redoing the business model for the chargers for those delicious succulent federal funds that are up for grabs.

From february:


https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/27/tesla-biden-electric-car-charging-00143431

edit: hello jalopnik/gizmodo lurkers stealing content! ?

 

[Vorador]

I'm fine with not having payment screens. I wouldn't be surprised if a good portion of EA's issues stem from having to support the massive slow payment screen. Rivian and Ford already support plug and charge for Tesla superchargers, no reason other manufacturers can't do the same.

Tesla sales are slowing down, but at the same time more EVs will have access to the supercharger network. Not expanding to new sites is going to start to hurt Tesla in a year or two. Imagine every supercharger packed full.

If maintenance is not kept up, and superchargers start to act like EA stations, less people are going to be willing to buy a Tesla, which will lead to an even deeper drop in sales. The news is going to report Tesla supercharger failures a lot more frequently than they do about EA or EVGo reliability.

 

[Crissa]

Respectfully disagree. No one needs payment terminals and screens on chargers when smart phones have near 100% penetration - just start a charging session from an app ...

So if your phone is broken or has no network, you're stranded.

So if you can't have a credit cars on file with Tesla, you're stranded.

So if you're out of money and need your buddy to pay, you're stranded.

So if your car ages out of network support, you're stranded.

-Crissa

 

[charliemagpie]

The supercharger network had been growing at 30%-33%, last qrt dropped to 27%.

Tesla has reached growth of around 1300 locations per year. Maybe a number the company is satisfied with to support the Robotaxi rollout for now.

Tesla has delayed mass production of consumer 'Model' 2. Maintaining a workforce to manage the acceleration of Supercharger rollout beyond say 1000 per year is not required at this time.

 

[fritter63]

Probably unrelated but here’s an anecdote that had me thinking the management of the Supercharger network could be better: About 14 months ago on Staten Island, a borough of 500k people with only one other 12-stall network, I saw 12 new chargers installed by a major supermarket and highway. It has been inactive the entire time — it never opened. One would think it would be a far shorter amount of time between installation and activation.

Same story for the new (second) site on the north end of our town.

But..... locally PG&E has a lot of issues, new homebuilders been taking YEARS to get hooked up.

 

[tingmo13]

poor Elon-when in few days he saw the Big guys in China and made it big-all are jubilant! But Few Days Later when he lays off SC department all hell lose. Supercharger is so big and moreover Fed is spending $7.1 Billion on fast chargers all over the nation. Give Elon space or leave the guy alone!

 

[carsly]

So if your phone is broken or has no network, you're stranded.

So if you can't have a credit cars on file with Tesla, you're stranded.

So if you're out of money and need your buddy to pay, you're stranded.

So if your car ages out of network support, you're stranded.

-Crissa

Sounds to me like you’re making the case for all chargers to only accept bills and coins. If the issue is so prevalent you’ll clean up with your Crissachargers.

 

[Outdoors]

I enjoy the reads here. Not sure there is much to it.

Elon has made a comment. Still growing and fixing it seems. No worries in my backyard.

A cat with gloves doesn't mouse well.