Elon Musk is on the warpath. Now that the electric vehicle industry is no longer growing exponentially, hes pivoting toward robotics, having sacked more than a tenth of his workforce, shelved plans to build a low-cost car, and fired his head of fast charging.
While adjustments in headcount are inevitable, Musks decision to also sack Rebecca Tinuccis entire Supercharger teamwhile at the same time plowing $10 billion this year alone into anAI strategysparked confusion and bewilderment in the ranks of a Tesla community that once believed the company would grow EV sales tenfold from current levels by 2030.
What this means for the charging network, [Teslas proprietary charging standard] NACS, and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I dont yet know, wrote Will Jameson, formerly Teslas lead of strategic charging programs, whoconfirmeda report byThe Information. If Tesla is yielding the charging crown, who will step up?
Musks Supercharger network was long considered an unbeatable asset that would insulate Tesla from competitive pressures. Particularly in EV laggard North America, no other brand had access to such an extensive and, more important,reliablenetwork of fast chargers.
The process was also seamless: All Tesla owners had to do was plug in, and everything else was taken care of at the back enda premium no-hassle experience that set a benchmark for the market.
Musks decision to scrap the teamdeepened the riftbetween proponents of Teslas stated mission toaccelerate the advent of sustainable transportand Musk acolytes, who choose not to question a CEO who built the worlds most valuable carmaker from scratchagainst all odds.
The latter argue Tesla can afford to take its foot off the accelerator now that the rest of the U.S. industry adopted his plug and charging standard to grant their customers access to his network.
Responding to concerns from critics, Musk signaled he merely believes its time to adopt a different approach.
Tesla 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, he wrote on the social media platform he owns, X.
Challenges remain, however, as the other half of the EV market in the U.S. that Musk doesnt control is reliant on Teslas existingthird-generationchargers and rollout of its new, fourth-gen service.
Competitor models are not compatible with the Supercharger V1 and V2 available at 12,000 stations around the country, meaning waits at the stations for those who need the newer ports.
Christoph Strmer, an electric mobility expert with Berlin-based Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN), pushed back against the notion that the hard part for Tesla was over, especially as more carmakers will now be directing their U.S. customers to its Superchargers.
The heavy lifting hasnt been done, since EVs areless than 2% of the existing fleetin the U.S. That leaves 98% still yet to be electrified, and the investment needed will be enormous, he toldFortune.
Teslas charging business needs to service twice as many customers, while complexity will effectively quadruple as it seeks to accommodate a range of different brands. So its team needs more resourcesnot less.
Tesla did not respond to aFortunerequest for comment.
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