The entire division of Tesla responsible for the company's public supercharger network is being canned, reports the BBC. Citing messages from those affected, it counts "hundreds" of firings. CEO Elon Musk recently decided to slash the workforce at the company, where sales are slowing and competition is toughening as electronic vehicles go mainstream.
William Jameson, strategic charging programs lead at Tesla, posted on X that Mr Musk had "let our entire charging org go".
"What a wild ride it has been", he wrote.
Also writing on X, Mr Musk said the company still planned to grow the Supercharger network, "just at a slower pace for new locations".
Andres Pinter, chief executive of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, a supplier to the charging network said that his team "woke up to a sharp kick in the pants this morning," Reuters reported.
Tesla's supercharger is likely to end up the industry standard, so they could make bank on licensing fees without ever spending another dollar on it themselves. Nonetheless: "Fred Lambert, editor-in-chief of electric vehicle news website Electrek, posted on social media he was 'extremely perplexed' by the move."
"If one thing was a clear success at Tesla, it's the Supercharger network. Even from a talent perspective. No other charging team in the world has been able to do what Tesla did," he wrote.
There's still a lot of "fan brain" around Tesla—and, conversely, a lot of "hate brain" for Musk— so it's difficult to get a clear idea of anything in context. Hertz is now dumping Teslas on the used market the way Chinese authorities slaughter chickens during avian flu outbreaks—a clear picture of life and death at the end of America's first mass EV ownership cycle.
Previously: Tesla fires 30 workers after union drive
