Musk reportedly fired Tesla’s entire supercharger team because the head of the charging department didn’t want to lay off more people

Elon Musk fired the head of Tesla’s Supercharger division late last month, along with her entire team of 500 people. It’s a puzzling decision that raises more questions than it answers, especially considering that Musk has recently convinced every other automaker to agree. to make their electric vehicles compatible with Tesla chargers. Assumption Latest report from Reuters However correct this is, the firing of the Supercharger team was not a business decision or a change in strategy. It was simply Musk getting angry at someone for denying him what he asked for and punishing the entire group as part of his anger.

According to Reuters sources, Rebecca Tinucci, head of Tesla’s charging division, laid off 15 to 20 percent of the Supercharger team as Musk began pushing for more layoffs. When she resisted, he not only fired her, but also fired her entire team at once. Since then, Musk has attempted damage control, tweeting about continued expansion of the charging network and reportedly trying to rehire some of the Supercharger employees who were laid off.

The clarification comes after a change in leadership and appears to be part of a broader pattern of chaos and confusion going on inside Tesla:

Tinucci is one of Tesla’s few female senior executives. She recently began reporting directly to Musk, following the departure of battery and power chief Drew Baglino, according to four former employees of the Supercharger team. They said Baglino previously oversaw the billing department without much involvement from Musk.

The charging team layoffs mark the latest drama in a tumultuous year for Tesla as Musk has shuttered or delayed several core efforts to spur the rapid growth in electric vehicle sales that automakers expected investment. Instead, Musk now says Tesla will shift its main focus to self-driving cars, a business that is fiercely competitive and riskier and could take years to develop.

The company posted its first decline in auto sales since 2020 in the first quarter amid stiff competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers and a slump in electric vehicle demand worldwide. . Reuters reported in April that Tesla canceled plans to develop a long-awaited affordable car called the Model 2. That raised doubts about its plans to build new factories. Tesla in Mexico and India, where Musk was expected to meet the Prime Minister last month. Narendra Modi, before canceling at the last minute. And a series of executives have left amid deep company-wide layoffs.

And yet, next door canceled four planned Supercharger locations in New York, Tesla’s chief global sourcing officer recently sent an email to contractors and suppliers – and seen by Reuters – telling them to “please continue to break ground on any new construction projects awarded .” It also includes the line, “I understand that this period of change can be challenging and patience is not easy when expecting to be rewarded!”

After the Supercharger team left, Tesla brought in the energy team to take over and handle various charging projects. They also appear to have received little retraining to ensure they can do their jobs well, with one contractor saying that Tesla employees he has spoken to since the mass layoffs “know nothing.” chief”.

Tesla’s energy division, which sells solar power systems and battery storage, struggled to handle its workload before being forced to take over, according to two former employees. of the Supercharger group. So it was a surprise when Musk later said Tesla “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace” and announced that “Tesla will spend more than $500 million to expand its Supercharger network us to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”

While $500 million is certainly a large amount of money, it is also reportedly much less than the amount the team plans to invest in the Chargers, with one estimate suggesting the number of Superchargers that Tesla plans to produce a 77% reduction in 2024. Overseeing the installation of those charging centers would likely require a staff of several hundred employees that Tesla no longer has.

The layoffs also affect contractors who hired their own staff and based their budgets for the year on agreements with Tesla. Musk’s decision to eliminate the Supercharger group and cut back on Supercharger expansion also hurt those companies. “Unfortunately they are now tied up with all the different projects,” one former employee told Reuters. “It’s really sad to see all these relationships burned and people are really angry — rightfully so.”