Bounced
emails.
Stalled
projects.
Delayed
adapters.
These
are
the
immediate
effects
of Tesla CEO
Elon
Musk’s
“absolutely
hard
core”
approach
to
cost
cutting,
which
has
resulted
in
at
least
500
layoffs
from
the
company’s
Supercharger
business,
including
the
division’s
top
executive,
Rebecca
Tinucci.
The
timing
couldn’t
have
been
worse.
Tesla
was
on
the
verge
of
making
its
vehicle
charging
plug
the
de
facto
standard
in
North
America,
and
its
competitors
and
stakeholders
are
counting
on
a
smooth
ride.
But
Musk
claims
the
leaner
team
will
focus
less
on
deploying
new
Supercharger
locations
and
instead
focus
on
“100
percent
uptime.”
How
that
will
translate
into
reality
is
unclear,
with
laid-off
employees
telling
InsideEVs
that
reduced
manpower
will
affect
their
ability
to
respond
to
outages.
Emails
to
contacts
at
Tesla’s
charging
division
have
been
bouncing
back
Just
a
few
weeks
before,
Tesla
was
touting
its
Supercharger
advances
in
quarterly
documents
filed
with
the
SEC.
In
the
document,
the
company
said
it
planned
to
increase
its
charging
infrastructure
teams
in
order
to
expand
the
network
to
support
EVs
from
other
manufacturers.
Tesla
had
also
accepted
$17
million
in
federal
EV
charging
grants
before
gutting
the
Supercharger
team.
In
reality,
Tesla
is
doing
the
opposite
of
expanding
its
network.
Sources
told
Electrek
that
Tesla
canceled
four
New
York-area
Supercharger
locations,
backing
out
of
the
leases,
giving
credence
to
Musk’s
prediction
of
slower
installations.
Meanwhile,
emails
to
contacts
at
Tesla’s
charging
division
have
been
bouncing
back,
a
contractor
who
works
on
the
company’s
charging
station
installations
told
E&E
News.
As
the
contractor
was
heading
to
a
site
in
Dallas,
Tesla’s
construction
lead
called
to
say
the
whole
team
was
laid
off.
Elsewhere,
projects
to
install
Tesla’s
slower
Level
2
destination
chargers
at
apartment
complexes
have
also
been
affected.
A
condo
owner
named
Don
Burke
posted
on
X
that
his
building
was
in
the
middle
of
installing
four
chargers
when
the
project
stalled.
Burke
said
his
emails
to
Tesla
employees
have
bounced
back,
and
there’s
no
indication
that
there’s
anyone
left
at
the
company
who
can
help.
Over
on
Reddit,
a
commenter
posted
that
their
$7,000
project
is
also
in
limbo
since
Tesla
needs
to
fix
the
software,
but
no
one
is
responding.
Another
contractor
related
how
his
project
building
a
43-charger
station
has
been
canceled
after
their
contact
at
Tesla
said
the
entire
team
was
fired.
Tesla
also
has
a
big
contract
with
Hilton
to
install
up
to
20,000
chargers
at
hotels,
but
it’s
unknown
if
the
project
will
be
affected.
A
spokesperson
for
the
hotel
chain
did
not
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
Tesla’s
cuts
are
also
affecting
the
availability
of
CCS-to-NACS
adapters
that
are
supposed
to
be
sent
to
owners
of
Ford,
Rivian,
and
GM
electric
vehicles
this
year
(and
eventually
to
every
major
automaker),
allowing
them
to
use
the
company’s
Superchargers.
Some
Mustang
Mach-E
and
F-150
Lightning
owners
took
to
Reddit
sharing
emails
sent
from
Ford
that
their
complimentary
fast-charging
adapter
is
delayed
“due
to
supply
constraints.”
Some
have
moved
from
May
to
June,
others
as
late
as
September.
Tesla’s
Supercharger
network
is
widely
accepted
as
the
gold
standard
on
how
to
build
electric
vehicle
charging
infrastructure,
one
that
other
EV
networks
can’t
seem
to
match
in
size
and
reliability.
According
to
BloombergNEF,
Tesla
accounts
for
74
percent
of
all
fast
chargers
in
North
America.
Part
of
Tesla’s
success
is
owed
to
Tinucci,
who
oversaw
Tesla’s
portfolio
of
Supercharger
locations,
led
business-to-business
destination
charger
projects,
and
spearheaded
Tesla’s
Magic
Dock-capable
Supercharger
installs
so
other
manufacturers’
EVs
can
plug
in
without
needing
to
bring
an
adapter.
According
to
a
former
employee
who
spoke
to
The
Washington
Post,
Tinucci
met
with
Musk
privately
before
the
layoffs
to
express
her
opposition
to
the
magnitude
of
the
layoffs.
Now
with
Tinucci
out,
along
with
most
of
the
Supercharger
team,
Tesla’s
big
lead
is
at
risk.
(Originally posted by Umar Shakir)
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