Founded in 2003, Tesla is the top manufacturer of electric vehicles in the US. Led by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, the automaker upended the industry with the futuristic designs and technology of the Gigafactory, the Model S sedan, the Model X SUV, the mass-market Model 3, and soon, the Model Y compact SUV and the unconventional, Blade Runner-inspired pickup Cybertruck. The company has also experienced a number of growing pains on the path to that status as a leader, including public clashes with government agencies, and it commonly faces questions about its technology, issues with its manufacturing, and the treatment of its workforce. The Verge covers all of Tesla’s product launches and ambitions, including energy generation and storage, and the push towards autonomous cars.
It was suspected that Elon Musk fired Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s top EV charging executive, because she pushed back against his demand for more layoffs. And now eight former employees confirmed the account to Reuters, basically exposing Musk’s decision as petulant, poorly thought out, and unnecessarily reactive. And now, with the whole 500-person team gone, Tesla’s Supercharger expansion plans are well and truly borked.
“It’s just unfortunate that now they’re stuck holding the bag on all these different projects,” one of the former employees said. “It’s really sad to see all these relationships burned and people be really angry - rightfully so.”
After Tesla CEO Elon Musk fired the entire 500 Supercharger team, a TikTok user noticed that all the cables at this Vallejo, Calif. station had been severed, rendering it useless. Vandalism? Or thieves looking to extract the valuable copper from inside the cables?
After laying off 500 members of the Tesla Supercharger team and sending the EV charging world into turmoil, Tesla is looking to rehire some of the personnel. As Bloomberg reports, one of the major returns is director for charging for North America Max De Zegher, who apparently worked right under ousted director Rebecca Tinucci.
The group of 800 demonstrators accused Tesla of environmental harm, citing mining lithium for EV batteries. The group is said to want to stop the factory’s expansion. CEO Elon Musk said it’s “fishy,” and called them dumb. In March, the factory shut down temporarily after an arson attack.
Unless you work for the Supercharger team that was recently gutted in his “absolutely hard core” approach to cost cutting. Musk already said that the Supercharger network would still continue to grow, but “at a slower pace for new locations,” causing more than a little concern amongst Tesla owners and anyone relying upon the North American Charging Standard. Now we have clarification.
This was shared by a recently laid off employee who requested anonymity. Even AI chatbots aren’t this sterile.
I am reaching out to let you know that after a careful review of your permanent work restrictions and your role, it was determined that there was no reasonable accommodation that would enable you to perform the essential functions of your position in your role. The next step in the interactive process is the Alternative Job Search (AJS process), which consists of reviewing Tesla’s internal and external job board to identify potential positions. This is to inform you that we have not identified any openings for which you appear qualified. Given recent changes in the business, we also do not currently anticipate any such openings in the near term. As such, we are advising that we intend to conclude the AJS process at this time. As we have not identified an alternative available position, we will begin processing your separation from employment with Tesla, effective May 3rd, 2024.
InsideEVs Editor-in-Chief (and former Verge contributor) Patrick George spoke to two recently laid off employees from Tesla’s Supercharger team about what’s going to happen to the company’s once-vaunted EV charging network now that it’s been gutted. They’re worried that broken chargers will take longer to fix, as the employees that are left race to respond to outages. In short, it’s going to short circuit.
On today’s Decoder, Verge transportation editor Andy Hawkins and I try to figure out Tesla. The company has been on a real rollercoaster these past two weeks — in terms of its stock price, its basic financials, and well, its vibes. With Elon Musk saying he’s going all in on autonomy and announcing a robotaxi event in August, it seems like we’re getting closer to a make-or-break moment for the company.
Between when we recorded this episode and today, there have been more than a half dozen new updates in the Tesla saga, including another wave of layoffs. That is a lot of chaos for a company that is trying to execute a huge pivot to become a very different kind of business than it is today — and do so very quickly. Like I said, Andy and I tried to explain Tesla. You let us know if we succeeded.
In the wake of more “absolutely hard core” layoffs at Tesla that were especially hard on the charging division, Elon Musk is saying the company still plans to grow its Supercharger network “at a slower pace.”
Compare that to the message he sent internally, as reported by The Information: “We will continue to build out some new Supercharger locations, where critical, and finish those currently under construction.”
Tesla restrictions set by local authorities have been lifted now that the company’s Chinese-made vehicles have passed their data security requirements, as Musk arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday.
According to Reuters, the automaker has also secured a deal to use Baidu’s mapping license to collect data on Chinese roads — a key step for introducing Full Self Driving software to the country.
Hertz said in its first quarter earnings report today that it plans to sell an additional 10,000 Teslas, after committing to off-loading 20,000 of the electric vehicles earlier this year. That means the rental car company plans on selling 15 percent of the initial 200,000 EVs it said it was going to buy from Tesla and Polestar back in the heady days of 2021.
[Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.]
Because this guy apparently was quoted at $30,000 to activate the truck’s bidirectional vehicle-to-home Powershare capabilities. That’s about twice the amount that GM said it would cost to do the same with the Chevy Silverado EV.
On this episode of The Vergecast: the $100 billion sale coming soon, the Rabbit R1, Tesla earnings, and more.
Tesla laid off over 10 percent of its workforce this month, but Musk says the cuts were needed for the company’s “next phase of growth:”
A company is kind of like a creature growing, and if you don’t reorganize it for different phases of growth, it will fail. You can’t have the same organizational structure.
Apparently, that next stage of growth also involves a $56 billion pay package for Musk.
That’s what Elon Musk said during Tesla’s earnings call on Tuesday, adding that Tesla will likely be able to sell the humanoid bot “externally by the end of next year.” But don’t get your hopes up just yet — Musk says these timelines “are just guesses.”
Electrek notes Model Y, S, and X prices have dropped by $2,000, and Tesla said its current referral program would end after April 30th, but it will return eventually.
This follows sales numbers reflecting “an unmitigated disaster,” a Cybertruck recall, and the reported cancellation of a $25k “Model 2.” Elon Musk & Co. have much to discuss on Tuesday’s earnings call.
A Tesla delivery center in Virginia reportedly has a way to deal with the now-recalled accelerator pedal on Cybertrucks.
In a Facebook post, Jim McGlone wrote that they installed a temporary rivet to secure the pad that might slip off and get stuck. With that in place, he picked up his new Cybertruck yesterday after it had been in a “containment hold.”