Tesla fired two executives and hundreds of employees of the company’s supercharging team late Monday night.
In an email to company executives, first reported by The Information, Tesla said Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of EV charging, is leaving the company and nearly the entire team she managed will be laid off.
Lane Chaplin, now the company’s former real estate chief, confirmed the layoffs at Supercharging the team in a Tuesday LinkedIn post.
“At midnight I and all of my Tesla Global Charging colleagues learned that the Tesla Charging Organization is no more,” the post reads.
According to the report, the layoffs affected approximately 500 employees and “some” were reassigned to other teams. Tesla announced earlier this month that it would be laying off 10% of its workforce.
The notice also stated that new vehicle program head Daniel Ho and his staff would be let go and the company’s public policy team would be disbanded. Rohan PatelThe former vice president of public policy and business development left the company earlier this month.
“Hopefully these actions make it clear that we need to be absolutely rigorous about reducing headcount and costs,” CEO Elon Musk wrote in an email, according to The Information. “Although some executive staff are taking it seriously, most still are not.”
Tesla did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment Tuesday.
Outages raise questions over charging network
Bullet EV Charging Solutions learned of the layoffs when an executive was asked to “turn around” before a meeting with the now-fired Tesla manufacturing head, according to Andres Pinter, an electric vehicle charging installation and maintenance, Bullet co-CEO. Was asked for. The firm that has the contract with Tesla
Pinter told USA TODAY on Tuesday that he is confident Tesla will meet its commitments to his company and Musk’s long-term management of the company, while noting that the charging network overseen by the department affected by the cuts is a key part of the company’s Was element. Success.
“I think retreating from charging would be suicide for the business. Tesla’s Supercharger network in particular is one of the reasons consumers buy vehicles because of ubiquitous charging that has nearly 100% uptime,” Pinter said. “I think it’s a move, whether it was the right move or not remains to be decided. But he (Musk) is smarter than any of us.”
In a post on X, Musk said the company will expand the slow charging network while expanding existing locations.
Supercharger team latest in line of layoffs
Musk and Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja addressed the layoffs in the company’s earnings call earlier this month, with CFO Vaibhav Taneja saying, “Any tree that grows needs pruning.”
The Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported Tuesday that the company has posted layoff notices for 693 employees in the state, primarily at Gigafactory 1 in Sparks.
On April 22, the company posted layoff notices for 2,688 workers at Tesla’s Austin, Texas factory. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that 2,735 workers in the Bay Area would be laid off the next day.
“We’re not giving up anything important that I’m aware of,” Musk said on the call.
Tesla’s Vice President of Investor Relations Martin Wiecha announced his departure from the company during an earnings call. Drew BaglinoThe senior vice president of powertrain and electrical engineering left before the call.
According to Reuters, Tesla had 140,473 employees globally at the end of 2023.
