More Tesla employees have reportedly been laid off as the electric vehicle (EV) giant continues to cut its global workforce – the impact is already being felt in Australia.
Last week, Rebecca Tinucci, the head of Tesla’s Supercharger division, was fired along with the entire department of about 500 employees, reportedly after the executive resisted headcount reductions.
Tesla’s head of new vehicle development, Daniel Ho, was also reportedly fired. However, it was not known whether his team was also affected by the layoffs.
Rapid cuts reportedly continued Electrics reports that Tesla’s layoffs are now in their third week.
Sources told the publication that Tesla employees from various departments, including the software, service and engineering divisions, have been terminated in recent days.
However, it is unclear how many people were affected by the latest round of layoffs Electrics estimates that nearly 20 percent of Tesla’s workforce could be unemployed by the time the cuts end.
It is understood the brand’s Australian operations have also been affected by this global workforce reduction.
Australian Technology Publication EFTM reports that the rollout of additional Tesla Superchargers locally has been suspended indefinitely.
EFTM cites an email between a Victorian business that was due to have a four-bay supercharger installed in its car park and its legal representative.
The legal representative was allegedly told by a Tesla employee that work on the planned Supercharger station would not continue.
“I just received a voicemail from (name redacted) at Tesla informing me that the Tesla Supercharger team worldwide has been disbanded and there will be no future Supercharger locations,” the email reads .
“I just spoke to (Tesla employee) and he expressed his disappointment and was certainly surprised – as were the rest of the Tesla Supercharger teams. He also said he expects his email to be deactivated within the next 24 hours.”
Tesla’s Supercharger network – often considered one of the best in the industry – was originally reserved only for its own vehicles, but has recently begun opening the stations to other vehicle brands.
From August 2023, 30 of Australia’s 63 Supercharger stations could be used to charge non-Tesla electric vehicles. It is not yet known whether the paused charger rollout will result in a halt to this access expansion.
Last month, Tesla said its operating margins were 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2024 – down from 11.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023 – while new vehicle deliveries fell in the first three quarters to their lowest level in 2022 were months of the year.
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