Elon Musk Just Laid Off the Entire Supercharger Team
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
This week, Elon Musk laid off the entire team of Tesla's vaunted Supercharger network, according to an email obtained by The Information.
After laying off Senior Director of Tesla's Supercharger group, Rebecca Tinucci, the email went on to say that everyone working underneath Tinucci would also be terminated, totaling around 500 Supercharger-specific employees. These layoffs follow an additional 10 percent reduction in force ordered by Musk, following Tesla's 9 percent decline in first-quarter revenue.
Tesla's former Strategic Charging Programs Lead Will Jameson also confirmed the layoffs on X, saying the entire charging organization was let go.
"But also what a unique opportunity for the industry to capitalize on the newly available talent and expertise in the space," Jameson wrote on X. "If Tesla is yielding the charging crown, who will step up?"
It's unclear why Musk decided to dissolve the entire Supercharger team, particularly when manufacturers like Ford, Volkswagen, and Rivian are committing to adopting the Tesla-compatible NACS plug standard and hashing deals to use Tesla's Supercharger. Similarly, Tesla's extensive network of chargers is known as reliable, quick, and well-placed.
According to The Information, Musk said he would be asking for the resignation of any executive “who retains more than three people who don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test. … I have been super clear about this.” The team behind the Head of New Products at Tesla, Daniel Ho, and the public policy team (previously led by Rohan Patel) will also be dissolved.
"Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction," Musk wrote in an email seen by The Information. "While some on execstaff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so."
Before these cuts, Musk has been in China, allegedly discussing the rollout of its so-called Full Self-Driving. The worryingly-named FSD driver-assistance tech is not currently available in China and Musk recently hinted at the system being available in its second-largest market.
You Might Also Like
