Report: Tesla lays off entire Supercharger team! [Update: Elon Musk says supercharger growth will continue]

[carsly]

I hope you’re right. In the meantime does it still make sense, if the capacity issue is true, to restrict non Tesla vehicles from using the Super Charging stations?

Absolutely Tesla should restrict access - and they are!

Lost in the noise of OEM's desperate to issue press releases about Supercharger access are three small facts:

• Tesla is producing and distributing adapters - so they can ration what is produced, when, and to which OEM's they are delivered
• Tesla determines which Superchargers are open to "NACS compatible" vehicles - a few are Magic Dock, v2's will never be compatible AND high-traffic v3's are not "in network" for these partner arrangements at the moment
• Tesla determines the pricing for non-Tesla vehicles to charge

So Tesla can restrict access at multiple points - and evidence is they are already flexing on the first and second (no need to worry about the third, non-Tesla vehicle pricing, until there are more vehicles attempting to charge on the Supercharger network).

BTW, side benefit is that the business case for investing in an independent charging network, already questionable, has gone to crap. This is how Tesla holds off competition because Tesla can just opt to drop charging fees which means someone's 10 year business case based on a $0.25/kwh markup doesn't work if Tesla upcharges $0.10/kwh OR begins to add solar capacity and megapacks at high demand stations taking their costs down even below utility rack rates. Add in the higher stall costs with the touchscreens and payment terminals with the associated higher maintenance and repair costs (also negatively impacting uptime) and the fixed and variable costs blow up any possible positive economic returns in a high interest rate environment.

Tesla Supercharger network access is a masterclass in strategy, again played 6 moves ahead.

 

[carsly]

Maintaining the advantage doesn't mean sitting still in development of anything bigger and better. That simply means you're letting the competition catch up. History has proven that companies doing that will not be around for much longer. It might work for a few years while your equipment is getting outdated but won't work in the long run.

I'd wager the pause here is temporary and related entirely to the NEVI-related funding and new Superchargers. Musk pulled the plug on the lot and will restart, likely after the November elections, with a new team (maybe hiring back some of those folks who were let go) with a new strategy, mission and focus. But disbanding the policy and charging development team, if true, makes it easier to pull off a strategic reset. It's a hardcore move, one almost no CEO's of public companies would even attempt for fear of the negative headlines.

PS I'd still expect to see v4 charging stations roll out, as many deployments are likely already planned, permitted, or funded. So the practical impact with a six-month pause (post-November) will be negligible.

 

[JWass]

My biggest concern here. Is that the rollout of V4 chargers are critical to the future of the Cybertruck and any future updates and cars going to the new battery architecture and voltage systems. Charging speeds between V4 and V3 are not even comparable. It gives Tesla a huge advantage over others.

 

[geekwithout]

I'd wager the pause here is temporary and related entirely to the NEVI-related funding and new Superchargers. Musk pulled the plug on the lot and will restart, likely after the November elections, with a new team (maybe hiring back some of those folks who were let go) with a new strategy, mission and focus. But disbanding the policy and charging development team, if true, makes it easier to pull off a strategic reset. It's a hardcore move, one almost no CEO's of public companies would even attempt for fear of the negative headlines.

LEt's hope so but that's 7 valuable months where nothing happens. Not good.

 

[jerhenderson]

Original source isn't electrek.

Never heard of "the information" before today.

Though retuters is sourcing it, giving it a little bit more credibility.

https://www.reuters.com/business/au...-more-layoffs-information-reports-2024-04-30/

Reuters is credible? HA

 

[Randall Stephens]

Absolutely Tesla should restrict access - and they are!

Lost in the noise of OEM's desperate to issue press releases about Supercharger access are three small facts:

• Tesla is producing and distributing adapters - so they can ration what is produced, when, and to which OEM's they are delivered
• Tesla determines which Superchargers are open to "NACS compatible" vehicles - a few are Magic Dock, v2's will never be compatible AND high-traffic v3's are not "in network" for these partner arrangements at the moment
• Tesla determines the pricing for non-Tesla vehicles to charge

So Tesla can restrict access at multiple points - and evidence is they are already flexing on the first and second (no need to worry about the third, non-Tesla vehicle pricing, until there are more vehicles attempting to charge on the Supercharger network).

BTW, side benefit is that the business case for investing in an independent charging network, already questionable, has gone to crap. This is how Tesla holds off competition because Tesla can just opt to drop charging fees which means someone's 10 year business case based on a $0.25/kwh markup doesn't work if Tesla upcharges $0.10/kwh OR begins to add solar capacity and megapacks at high demand stations taking their costs down even below utility rack rates. Add in the higher stall costs with the touchscreens and payment terminals with the associated higher maintenance and repair costs (also negatively impacting uptime) and the fixed and variable costs blow up any possible positive economic returns in a high interest rate environment.

Tesla Supercharger network access is a masterclass in strategy, again played 6 moves ahead.

Third party adapters are already available and confirmed working, so point #1 is incorrect. The swarm of non Tesla vehicles at superchargers is coming.

 

[BayouCityBob]

They're also cancelling the $25,000 car (eye roll, we saw how THAT turned out). Don't believe everything that gets "reported". It's almost like a gossip site these days.

That reporting was accurate. It did not say the vehicle was being cancelled. It said the vehicle was being deprioritized in favor of the robotaxi (which was true). Musk reversed himself after the stock got pulverized and reprioritized it. Kinda. Sorta. But actually let's talk about robotaxi (which Musk has said on numerous occasions, obviates the need for a low cost vehicle).

 

[csphili]

No way it's the whole team. But anyone who thought payment terminals on SC's was a good idea and anyone who has gotten lazy needs to go. Supercharger rollout is fast but not fast enough and magic dock/CCS is probably going to be viewed as a mistake in a year or two when all the major makers are shipping NACS EVs.

Maybe Elon finally found out how much they spent on that drive-in diner...

 

[Scribbious]

That reporting was accurate. It did not say the vehicle was being cancelled. It said the vehicle was being deprioritized in favor of the robotaxi (which was true). Musk reversed himself after the stock got pulverized and reprioritized it. Kinda. Sorta. But actually let's talk about robotaxi (which Musk has said on numerous occasions, obviates the need for a low cost vehicle).

I could be wrong but I see 'scrapped' in the headline and 'cancelled' in the first sentence. CTRL-F didn't find the word deprioritized anywhere in the article. Maybe 'reuters tesla model 2 deprioritized' was a bad search but this was the first link returned and none of the returns included the word deprioritized.

https://www.reuters.com/business/au...mid-fierce-chinese-ev-competition-2024-04-05/

 

[carsly]

That reporting was accurate. It did not say the vehicle was being cancelled. It said the vehicle was being deprioritized in favor of the robotaxi (which was true). Musk reversed himself after the stock got pulverized and reprioritized it. Kinda. Sorta. But actually let's talk about robotaxi (which Musk has said on numerous occasions, obviates the need for a low cost vehicle).

This also started with Fred at Electrek, watch the sources. What was reported was misinterpreted wildly in favor of catchy headlines.

What seems to be true (and Musk confirmed) is that the "in a box" manufacturing process Tesla was aiming to rollout for Model 2 has been put back on the shelf. This is what some media interpreted as cancelling the affordable vehicle - which is, as far as we know today, completely inaccurate.

What is also true is that the Model 2 will be launch with existing manufacturing processes and facilities HOWEVER this will limit Tesla's ability to take out as much cost as they were targeting. BUT this means Tesla can accelerate development and production to early 2025 (maybe late 2024, but don't believe that) from late 2025.

You don't have to believe me, listen to Tesla's last earnings call and hear it directly from Musk & Co.

 

[Speedr]

I agree with this. Here's the text in case you can't get to the post/tweet:

Pfff, Elon bad. Fired the whole Supercharger team from top to bottom. End of the world. Unless… Let’s remember what happened in June, 2022 at SpaceX and what happened after. On that bloody day… Elon Musk dismissed several top managers of the Starlink project at SpaceX. Among those fired were Jonathan Hofeller, who had been leading the global connectivity efforts for Starlink, and Rajeev Badyal, the technical chief of Starlink, as well as the technical director of spacecraft. Musk's reason for the dismissals was his dissatisfaction with the pace of development of the Starlink satellites, particularly with the technological advancements that would allow for a broader and more efficient deployment of the service. In short, the team assured him that no global constellation was possible within five years. That was a big mistake to tell! Only two years later Starlink not only has a global constellation of 6000 satellites but millions of subscribers in dozens of countries. All this magic happened under a new team. The end of the world turned out to be a little bit exaggerated. Now what’s wrong with Tesla Superchargers? Among other things the growing of the network is unbearably slow in many places. I remember well that at the beginning of 2023 we were invited by Tesla to vote for new Supercharger locations worldwide. It was more than a year ago and our local winner place is still an empty parking lot in Pécs. Elon is right: this is unacceptable. And his proven management style is this: fire those who had already done the maximum they could, and give the task to new players. Now we just sit back, relax and watch the miracle unfold.

 

[fritter63]

the entire Supercharging team and the executive responsible for negotiating NACS adoption across the industry.

But... what have you done for me lately? ?

 

[carsly]

I agree with this. Here's the text in case you can't get to the post/tweet:

Pfff, Elon bad. Fired the whole Supercharger team from top to bottom. End of the world. Unless… Let’s remember what happened in June, 2022 at SpaceX and what happened after. On that bloody day… Elon Musk dismissed several top managers of the Starlink project at SpaceX. Among those fired were Jonathan Hofeller, who had been leading the global connectivity efforts for Starlink, and Rajeev Badyal, the technical chief of Starlink, as well as the technical director of spacecraft. Musk's reason for the dismissals was his dissatisfaction with the pace of development of the Starlink satellites, particularly with the technological advancements that would allow for a broader and more efficient deployment of the service. In short, the team assured him that no global constellation was possible within five years. That was a big mistake to tell! Only two years later Starlink not only has a global constellation of 6000 satellites but millions of subscribers in dozens of countries. All this magic happened under a new team. The end of the world turned out to be a little bit exaggerated. Now what’s wrong with Tesla Superchargers? Among other things the growing of the network is unbearably slow in many places. I remember well that at the beginning of 2023 we were invited by Tesla to vote for new Supercharger locations worldwide. It was more than a year ago and our local winner place is still an empty parking lot in Pécs. Elon is right: this is unacceptable. And his proven management style is this: fire those who had already done the maximum they could, and give the task to new players. Now we just sit back, relax and watch the miracle unfold.

BINGO!

I think you've nailed it. Pace of rollout has stalled dramatically. This station in NJ was supposed to open in Q3 2023. Then Q1 2024. Now? 2024. I guess at some time during the year? Maybe?

Then there is this one I've been tracking which was voted a winner and announced in Q3 2023. But here we sit well into Q2 2024 and...crickets.

 

[Idea Of The Day]

I agree with this. Here's the text in case you can't get to the post/tweet:

You nailed the most important thing that many of us ignored; he's just cleaning house and will definitely re-build the SuperCharger division to improve it, not reduce it.

They make it sound like he's giving up on growing the SuperCharger network, when the most likely thing is that he wants to make it even better and he doesn't think the people who built the SC division are the right people to grow it even further.

For what it's worth, sometimes the people who bootstrap a project are not the same people you need to take it to the next level. It's an entirely different skillset.

 

[JWass]

I agree with this. Here's the text in case you can't get to the post/tweet:

Pfff, Elon bad. Fired the whole Supercharger team from top to bottom. End of the world. Unless… Let’s remember what happened in June, 2022 at SpaceX and what happened after. On that bloody day… Elon Musk dismissed several top managers of the Starlink project at SpaceX. Among those fired were Jonathan Hofeller, who had been leading the global connectivity efforts for Starlink, and Rajeev Badyal, the technical chief of Starlink, as well as the technical director of spacecraft. Musk's reason for the dismissals was his dissatisfaction with the pace of development of the Starlink satellites, particularly with the technological advancements that would allow for a broader and more efficient deployment of the service. In short, the team assured him that no global constellation was possible within five years. That was a big mistake to tell! Only two years later Starlink not only has a global constellation of 6000 satellites but millions of subscribers in dozens of countries. All this magic happened under a new team. The end of the world turned out to be a little bit exaggerated. Now what’s wrong with Tesla Superchargers? Among other things the growing of the network is unbearably slow in many places. I remember well that at the beginning of 2023 we were invited by Tesla to vote for new Supercharger locations worldwide. It was more than a year ago and our local winner place is still an empty parking lot in Pécs. Elon is right: this is unacceptable. And his proven management style is this: fire those who had already done the maximum they could, and give the task to new players. Now we just sit back, relax and watch the miracle unfold.

I hope you’re right. It would be a disaster for Tesla to abondon the V4 network that will be the backbone of all next gen cars, the Cybertruck and the Semi. All of which need the 800 volt architecture.