Tesla Inc. eliminated almost its entire Supercharger organization, which has built a vast network of public charging stations that virtually every major automaker is in the process of tapping into in the US.
The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter. It comes in addition to the more than 10% staff cut ordered in mid-April, the person said.
The move will slow the network's growth, according to a person familiar with the division, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. There are already discussions about rehiring some of those impacted in order to operate the existing network and grow it at a much slower rate, the person said. In a post on X, Musk confirmed network growth would slow.
The job cuts have left executives at at least one other automaker, Rivian Automotive Inc., confused and concerned, according to another person familiar with internal company discussions. Rivian, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. are among the carmakers adopting Tesla's charging connectors for their battery-powered cars, giving thousands of customers access to the Tesla charging network.
Vehicles from those automakers were initially designed to use a standard called the Combined Charging System (CCS). There are fewer CCS chargers in the US than Tesla Superchargers, which use what Tesla has called the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Tesla's infrastructure is also considered faster and more reliable.
The job eliminations mean Rivian, Ford and others have lost their main points of contact in Tesla's charging unit shortly before the kickoff of the busy summer driving season. Tinucci was one of the main executives building and managing outside partnerships and was thought of highly, two people who had worked with her inside and outside of Tesla said.
Bloomberg confirmed that Tinucci was no longer listed on internal organizational charts as of Tuesday. One of Tesla's highest-ranking female executives, she spoke at the company's Investor Day in March 2023. She didn't respond to requests for comment.
Some of the Supercharger servicing team, which manages third-party access to the network, remains intact, according to one of the people. Tesla has been building CCS-to-NACS adapters in Buffalo, New York, and shipping them to partnering carmakers. Companies that have signed charging contracts with Tesla are mostly using the adapters as a short-term fix. For example, Ford EV customers can use the Supercharger network with an adapter now, and the technology will be built into the vehicles beginning in 2025.
Rivian and Ford are both still shipping adapters to their customers, according to statements from the companies. Ford told its EV owners on Friday, before the elimination of the broader Tesla Supercharger team, deliveries may be delayed in some cases due to "constraints" with the supplier.
Easy access to high-speed charging is widely seen as critical to EV adoption, and Tesla invested billions of dollars into developing a global network of Superchargers that became the envy of other automakers. It's also a critical component of Tesla sales, and the carmaker said the division was growing during its first-quarter results last week.
"Starting at the end of February, we began opening our North American Supercharger Network to more non-Tesla EV owners," Tesla wrote in its shareholder deck.
The Musk-led company has also signed charging partnerships with carmakers including Stellantis NV, Volvo, Polestar, Kia, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. It's not clear who will now oversee Tesla's partnerships with those companies. GM, Volvo and Polestar were all due to open NACS chargers to their customers in the immediate future, according to Tesla's website.
Tesla had 6,249 Supercharger stations and more than 57,000 connectors as of the end of the first quarter. It has more fast chargers in the US than all other providers combined, according to BloombergNEF.
Musk's decision to dismiss the head of the business, Rebecca Tinucci, and most or all of the staff that operated and maintained the Supercharger system, according to two former employees and multiple postings on LinkedIn, left officials at automakers and Tesla suppliers uncertain about the future.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk subsequently said on X that the carmaker still plans to expand the Supercharger network, "just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations."
Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, a supplier to the network, said, "As contractors for the Supercharger network, my team woke up to a sharp kick in the pants this morning."
"Tesla has already been awarded money under the federal government's NEVI program," he said, referring to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program to provide funding to states to deploy EV charging networks.
"There's no way Mr. Musk would walk away from effectively free money. It may be possible Mr. Musk will reconstitute the EV charger team in bigger, badder, more Muskian way."
GM and Ford, in separate statements, said they are not changing plans to equip their EVs with connectors that will allow drivers of Chevrolet, Cadillac or Ford brand EVs to recharge at Tesla stations.
"We have nothing new to announce regarding our plans," GM said. "We are continuing to monitor the situation regarding changes to the Supercharger team and the potential impacts with no further comments or updates at this time."
Getting all of the other car companies on board with the NACS charging system was one of the best things to happen to EVs in general as far as improving/unifying the charging infrastructure in the U.S., but this fucking idiot is trying to undo that.
