Familiar said Revel is less concerned about the material impact of Tesla’s layoffs than “the cultural impact, addressing pessimism surrounding electric vehicles recently.”
New York City officials seem confident that someone will fill the Tesla-sized charging gap. The City’s programs ensure “that any supplier doing business in NYC has a growing, trusted customer base, and a supplier canceling a lease is a great opportunity for the supplier to other levels, especially if the location is ready,” a spokesman for the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, Jason Kersten, said in a statement.
In Maspeth, Gordon said he has heard from several tolling companies interested in leasing the land once reserved for the Supercharger.
Powerful puzzle solver
In recent months, the Tesla Supercharger network has been considered a bright spot in a company in trouble by new competition from Chinese car manufacturers and traditional automakers, questions surrounding the dwindling electric vehicle market, revenues falland most recently, a series of rolling layoffs. Tesla customers say the company’s public charging stations are generally reliable and well-maintained, and are a huge selling point for Tesla-curious buyers. Last summer, energy research organization BloombergNEF predicted that Tesla can bring in fee revenue of 7.4 billion USD by the end of the decade, generating profits of about $740 million – not a bad deal for an automaker.
At the time of the reported firing, Tesla’s team had just pulled off a decisive coup by convinced the entire US auto industry to use its plugs. In return, Tesla has brought to the attention of other automakers—and their customers—a public charging network that is extremely reliable and well-developed, especially when compared to its success. poorer performance than that of their closest charging competitors.
In a financial filing filed last week, Tesla previewed plans to expand its charging network. As other automakers adopt Tesla plugs, “we must correspondingly expand our network to ensure there is enough supply to meet customer demand,” the company wrote.
Last fall Tesla officially handed over work on plug standards to the Society of Automotive Engineers, a global standards organization. Jeff Laskowski, a spokesman for the group, said work on finalizing that plug standard is “well underway” and expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sources involved in government funding told WIRED it’s not uncommon for government-funded companies to change direction or return them. In statements and interviews, people involved in building, selling and developing electric vehicle charging systems say that Tesla’s sudden switch to electric charging could affect the short-term future of the infrastructure public charging, but does not affect the long-term electricity transition.
A spokesperson for the Federal Office of Energy and Transportation, which oversees electric vehicle infrastructure in the U.S., said, because each state runs a competitive process to choose who will build the network. charging grid, “we do not expect individual business decisions”. to influence electric vehicle charging projects funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act,” Federal law of 2021 spent money on charging infrastructure.
While Tesla’s move is surprising, it could signal that the automaker believes other charging companies have caught up and are ready to take on the responsibility — as well as other charging companies, industry players said. as capital costs — in building an electric car production network. Go.
Competitors say the sudden change could even be an opportunity. In a statement, Sara Rafalson, executive vice president of policy and external affairs at charging company EVgo, said her company will soon begin integrating Tesla plugs into its chargers. “We welcome the opportunity to serve more Tesla vehicles and remain steadfast in our commitment to serving all electric vehicle models,” she said.
UPDATE 5/1/2024 9:30 PM ET: This story has been updated to clarify the status of Revel’s lease negotiations in New York City.
