Supercharger Layoffs Affected Progress?

[Chris Barnes]

I ask because since the announcement on Monday supercharge.info has had ZERO changes for the US, Mexico, or Canada. TONS of updates for China though.

North America gets a skip day on supercharge.info every now and then... but FOUR days seems "off".

 

[Tam]

I ask because since the announcement on Monday supercharge.info has had ZERO changes for the US, Mexico, or Canada. TONS of updates for China though.

North America gets a skip day on supercharge.info every now and then... but FOUR days seems "off".

Elon x on x website that not focusing on the growth. Just focus on reliability of what you have now.

 

[Chris Barnes]

Elon x on x website that not focusing on the growth. Just focus on reliability of what you have now.

Sure - but surely there were sites mid-deployment that will still continue until deployed, right? Or did everyone just walk away leaving half-finished projects?

 

[Tam]

Sure - but surely there were sites mid-deployment that will still continue until deployed, right? Or did everyone just walk away leaving half-finished projects?

Tesla laid off workers before. It consistently rehired workers again but might be at a lower wage.

I would not expect any normal deployment until new hires return to the department.

There's a report that new leases for Superchargers have been canceled:

Tesla is already pulling back Supercharger plans after firing team

Tesla is already pulling back Supercharger plans after Elon Musk came in like a wrecking ball and fired the whole...

electrek.co

I expect half-finished projects to be frozen until the department is restored. It may take a few months or next year.

 

[Tam]

I ask because since the announcement on Monday supercharge.info has had ZERO changes for the US, Mexico, or Canada. TONS of updates for China though.

North America gets a skip day on supercharge.info every now and then... but FOUR days seems "off".

Revel looks to use Tesla's abandoned Supercharger sites in New York

Electric ride-hailing company Revel sees Tesla's abandoned Supercharger projects in New York as an opportunity, as it considers whether it...

www.teslarati.com

“Tesla left some really nice sites on the table,” said Robert Familiar, a spokesperson for Revel. “They’re essentially ready to go. Those kinds of sites are super rare, and we are actively looking to pursue them.”

 

[Twiglett]

Electrek reported on installers being told not to start any contruction. Anything currently being build will be finished, but contractors will face payment delays, which pretty much guarantees that no new ones will be started any time soon.
I can't see how canning the entire department is in any way going to improve reliability.
With superchargers now being open to cars that take two spots to get a charge and more cars generally, we just have longer wait times and more broken stalls than ever. Pity the nav doesn't let you pick other charging options for road trips.

 

[Tam]

...contractors will face payment delays,..

Elon Musk has a history of not paying bills when taking over Twitter:

Elon Musk-led Twitter has been sued by at least six companies for failing to pay bills


Didn't pay $713,500 in rent last September

Thus, intelligent contractors want to get paid before finishing a Tesla project.

 

[RTPEV]

I would expect any effect based on this to be a gradual dropoff in the coming months, not an immediate cease. Granted, there may be a lot of chaos at HQ in the commissioning department as I suspect there is a lot of scrambling going on trying to figure out among who is left, who is responsible for what, which may explain a temporary lack of sites going live, but the sites in the construction pipeline will continue.

 

[Tam]

I would expect any effect based on this to be a gradual dropoff in the coming months, not an immediate cease. Granted, there may be a lot of chaos at HQ in the commissioning department as I suspect there is a lot of scrambling going on trying to figure out among who is left, who is responsible for what, which may explain a temporary lack of sites going live, but the sites in the construction pipeline will continue.

I think during the layoff period, a commitment to pay contractors must be crystal clear, and contractors should be able to talk and bill to someone in Tesla. Without that assurance, I don't see how half-finished sites can be finished:

Tesla layoffs shake confidence in the EV-charging future

Elon Musk's abrupt decision to hollow out the team that created Tesla's charging network could ripple across multiple industries.

www.eenews.net

"One of those trying to reach Tesla’s team Tuesday was Andres Pinter, the co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, a company that provides electricians and other workers to build charging stations. Tesla Supercharger stations account for a quarter of its work.

The company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vogel, “was driving to a job in Dallas this morning when he received a call from our Tesla construction lead saying that his entire team was laid off,” Pinter wrote in a Tuesday email. “I have gotten email bounces from at least 20 Tesla contacts.”

“It’s unclear to me who, if anyone, is still at Tesla who has anything to do with charging,” he added in a phone interview."

 

[RTPEV]

I think during the layoff period, a commitment to pay contractors must be crystal clear, and contractors should be able to talk and bill to someone in Tesla. Without that assurance, I don't see how half-finished sites can be finished:

Tesla layoffs shake confidence in the EV-charging future

Elon Musk's abrupt decision to hollow out the team that created Tesla's charging network could ripple across multiple industries.

www.eenews.net

"One of those trying to reach Tesla’s team Tuesday was Andres Pinter, the co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, a company that provides electricians and other workers to build charging stations. Tesla Supercharger stations account for a quarter of its work.

The company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vogel, “was driving to a job in Dallas this morning when he received a call from our Tesla construction lead saying that his entire team was laid off,” Pinter wrote in a Tuesday email. “I have gotten email bounces from at least 20 Tesla contacts.”

“It’s unclear to me who, if anyone, is still at Tesla who has anything to do with charging,” he added in a phone interview."

This is what I mean by "chaos at HQ". For sure there is going to be some confusion as things get sorted out. Having experienced pretty big layoffs in a large company myself (not EV related though), it takes awhile for roles & responsibilities to be defined after a large departure.

 

[Tam]

An explanation of the move:

.Cost cutting.
.Change to a car company, not a charger company.

Not good in the short term but competition will take over.

Tesla fires team expanding Supercharger network. Expert explains why it was a good move for Elon Musk — and consumers

“In the long term, it means that there will be more competition,” Northeastern Business Professor Fernando Suarez says.

news.northeastern.edu

 

[RTPEV]

An explanation of the move:

.Cost cutting.
.Change to a car company, not a charger company.

It's hard to argue with that, except for the fact that Tesla has seemingly tried to define itself as anything but a car company (solar, energy, AI, robotics, rideshare, ...)

I watched Sandy Munro's take on this, and he pretty much was saying the same thing. Where I find myself disagreeing is that he makes the argument that the technology is mature and there is no need for further advances. I find that hard to swallow, particularly at this juncture when you've finally gotten your plug standardized and are opening up your network to other makes.

I do see the business side of it. Strategically perhaps it doesn't make sense for Tesla to be on the network side of things. But if it were me, I would trim the fat and shop the division out as a spinoff rather than just mass deleting it.

And as I've always said, there is a strong alignment (giving an amazing competitive advantage) between the components that go into the Supercharger cabinets and the on board chargers in the vehicles, so it almost certainly makes sense to keep the hardware design & manufacturing integrated in the larger company. But maybe the team that's left behind can in fact handle this (it's not rocket science) and the manufacturing can be outsourced.

 

[Tam]

It's hard to argue with that, except for the fact that Tesla has seemingly tried to define itself as anything but a car company (solar, energy, AI, robotics, rideshare, ...)

I watched Sandy Munro's take on this, and he pretty much was saying the same thing. Where I find myself disagreeing is that he makes the argument that the technology is mature and there is no need for further advances. I find that hard to swallow, particularly at this juncture when you've finally gotten your plug standardized and are opening up your network to other makes.

I do see the business side of it. Strategically perhaps it doesn't make sense for Tesla to be on the network side of things. But if it were me, I would trim the fat and shop the division out as a spinoff rather than just mass deleting it.

And as I've always said, there is a strong alignment (giving an amazing competitive advantage) between the components that go into the Supercharger cabinets and the on board chargers in the vehicles, so it almost certainly makes sense to keep the hardware design & manufacturing integrated in the larger company. But maybe the team that's left behind can in fact handle this (it's not rocket science) and the manufacturing can be outsourced.

Sandy is wrong. Supercharger is not mature.

The Industry, including Cybertruck, is moving toward 800V while Supercharger V4 is still stagnant at 400v.

Cable length is still a problem for Cybertruck and non-Tesla. The promised NACS extension cable has not shown up.

Vandalism and being ICEd are still not solved.

Interoperability bugs haven't been worked out with non-Tesla companies.

Down sites might not be fixed with OTA reboot and still need a physical visit...

Sandy is very wrong.

 

[Ozdw]

Despite how he comes across, Sandy fawns over Elon and would never consider criticising him. The general base of current and potential customers values reliability and predictably in a company that sells and supports their vehicles. Knee-jerk changes in course are not valued. Most of my aquaintences will not contemplate buying a Tesla because of the CEO.

 

[Tam]

Another Tesla Charger that I forgot is for Tesla Semi. It's an infant.

Tesla semi was promised with V4 Chargers:

Tesla Semi Will Charge At 1+ MW Using New V4 Charging Cable

For trucks, other have been using MCS (Megawatt Charging System). Tesla needs to work with MCS for a national standard.

 

[Magellan55]

My guess is he has a buyer for the charging network. ChargePoint or EVGo, etc. He sells them the network and they decide whether to hire any/all of the ex-employees to run it.

 

[RTPEV]

My guess is he has a buyer for the charging network. ChargePoint or EVGo, etc. He sells them the network and they decide whether to hire any/all of the ex-employees to run it.

I can get behind that idea that they are looking to spin off the network, but you don't lay EVERYONE off, as the people/talent is sometimes just as important (or more) than the physical assets of the company. It is very common when you want to spin off a company to have some amount of layoffs to make the division you are trying to sell look attractive on paper (I was a victim of this practice myself many years ago), but you don't decimate the entire organization--that significantly LOWERS the value of it for a potential buyer, especially in this case where I think the people talent is probably MOST of the value of the organization.

 

[Tam]

Who would dream that BP would want to raid Tesla Supercharger sites that are in limbo:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/bp-looking-buy-teslas-supercharger-sites-us-bloomberg-news-reports-2024-05-09/

 

[dfly777]

Elon’s latest update on the Supercharging network.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788834859110002716

 

[LostVector]

Elon’s latest update on the Supercharging network.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788834859110002716

I voted against his comp package after this nonsense and know others who did as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he's turning tail based on the votes coming in.