Tesla axes electric vehicle charging team
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A Tesla charging station in a parking lot in Santa Monica, California, pictured in September 2022.
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CNN
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Tesla has abruptly fired the team running its electric vehicle charging business, raising doubts about the future of one of the largest US charging networks, which other carmakers, such as General Motors and Ford, have said they will also use.
In social media posts Tuesday, several Tesla employees confirmed the layoffs, first reported by The Information.
Tesla “has let our entire charging org go,” William Navarro Jameson, strategic charging programs lead at Tesla, wrote on X.
In a post on LinkedIn, Lane Chaplin, a senior manager in Tesla’s charging division, wrote: “In the middle of the night, I learned, along with all my #Tesla Global #Charging colleagues, the Tesla Charging org is no more.”
A lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main barriers to widespread EV adoption, and Tesla’s extensive “Supercharger” network has long been a major selling point for its vehicles. Until recently, that network could only be used by Tesla vehicles.
Following an invitation by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, virtually every big automaker in the United States has committed to making EVs compatible with Tesla’s charging technology, now known as the North American Charging Standard.
In response, major EV charging providers such as Electrify America and EVgo have also announced they will begin building chargers with NACS cables.
“What this means for the charging network, NACS and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I don’t yet know,” Jameson wrote in his post.
Tesla has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Musk said on X Tuesday that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.”
According to Dan Ives, a senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, “Musk is reading the room around softer EV demand globally.”
“Tesla is going through a… demand storm and unfortunately strategic changes are needed to get the train back on the tracks,” he told CNN, but added: “Removing the whole department is a head-scratcher.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
