Tesla laid off two executives and hundreds of employees from the company’s Supercharger team on Monday evening.
In an email to company executives first reported by The Information, Tesla said that Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of electric vehicle charging, was leaving the company and that almost all team she led would be fired.
Lane Chaplin, now the company’s former head of real estate, confirmed the layoffs within the Supercharger team in a Tuesday post on LinkedIn.
“In the middle of the night, I learned, along with all my colleagues at Tesla Global Charging, that the Tesla Charging organization no longer exists,” the message read.
The layoff affected nearly 500 employees and “a few” were reassigned to other teams, according to The Information. Tesla announced earlier this month that it would lay off 10% of its workforce.
The news also reports that Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicle program, and his employees will be laid off and the company’s public policy team will be disbanded. Rohan Patelformer vice president of public policy and business development, left the company earlier this month.
“I hope these actions make it clear that we must be absolutely uncompromising on reducing headcount and costs,” CEO Elon Musk wrote in the email, according to The Information. “Even though some executive staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet.”
Tesla did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment Tuesday.
Cuts raise questions about charging network
Bullet EV Charging Solutions learned of the layoffs when an executive was asked to “turn around” before a meeting with a now-fired Tesla construction manager, according to Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet, a company installation and maintenance of electric vehicle charging. company that has contracts with Tesla
Pinter told USA TODAY on Tuesday that he is confident Tesla will honor its commitments to his company and to Musk’s long-term management of the company, while noting that the charging network overseen by the department affected by the cuts was a key element in the company’s strategy. success.
“I think it would be suicide for the company to get out of charging. Tesla’s Supercharger network in particular is one of the reasons consumers buy the vehicles, because there is ubiquitous charging with availability of almost 100 percent,” Pinter said. “It’s a decision, I think, whether it was the right decision remains to be determined. But he (Musk) is also much smarter than any of us.”
In a post on X, Musk said the company would expand the charging network at a slower pace while expanding existing locations.
Supercharger team latest in line for layoffs
Musk and Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja addressed the layoffs during the company’s earnings call earlier this month, with CFO Vaibhav Taneja saying, “Every tree that grows needs to be pruned.”
The Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported Tuesday that the company issued a layoff notice for 693 employees in the state, primarily at Gigafactory 1 in Sparks.
On April 22, the company issued a layoff notice for 2,688 employees at Tesla’s Austin, Texas, factory. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that 2,735 Bay Area workers would be laid off the next day.
“We’re not giving up anything that big that I’m aware of,” Musk said on the call.
Martin Viecha, Tesla’s vice president of investor relations, announced his departure from the company during the company’s earnings conference call and Drew Baglinosenior vice president of powertrain and electrical engineering, left before the call.
Tesla had 140,473 employees worldwide at the end of 2023, according to Reuters.
News Source : www.usatoday.com
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