The Tesla Supercharger team, responsible for managing and developing electric vehicle charging stations across the United States, has been laid off.
William Jameson, head of Tesla’s strategic charging programs, broke the news via I don’t know what we’ve achieved across the industry. What a wild ride it’s been.”
Tesla developed the North American Charging Standard (NACS), which has been opened up to other manufacturers in recent years. The widespread provision of charging stations was considered a success, particularly given the agreements with competing companies to use these locations.
Tesla Supercharger team hired
The news of employee layoffs comes after a turbulent few weeks for Tesla and Elon Musk. Due to pressure from rival automakers, the automaker reduced many of its top and flagship models worldwide and led to a nationwide Cybertruck product recall because an accelerator pedal problem put lives at risk.
Musk said in a memo first reported by The Information that the electric car maker needs to be “absolutely tough” on cutting costs.
Drew Baglino, head of Tesla’s Powertrain, and Rohan Patel, head of business development, submitted their resignations after it was announced that a 10% reduction in headcount would be required.
Musk continued his statement about scaling down Tesla: “As part of this effort, we have conducted a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by more than 10%.” There is nothing I hate more , but it has to be done. This will allow us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
This next growth phase cycle would not include 14,000 employees and Supercharger team leader Rebecca Tinucci and new product leader Daniel Ho.
Musk posted after the layoffs
This slower pace could be due to the slower earnings and growth the company reported earlier this month. These decisions to cut costs for electric vehicles, high-profile employees, and a tenth of the company’s headcount can be attributed in part to an unfavorable fourth-quarter earnings report.
Image: Tesla.