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The automaker laid off 500 workers in a unit critical to its success and worried about the future of electric vehicle sales in the United States.
By Jack Ewing
Elon Musk has gutted the Tesla component responsible for building charging stations for electric vehicles, sowing uncertainty about the future of America’s largest and most reliable charging network.
The layoffs of about 500 Tesla employees, many of whom spoke out on social media on Tuesday, have raised questions about the deals Tesla said. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, concluded last year with executives from General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and others. Automakers allow cars made through other corporations to use Tesla supercharger stations.
Tesla’s deals with other electric car brands make buyers confident that they’ll be able to find fast chargers while driving, which addresses one of the main reasons why many other people are hesitant to buy such cars. This was also considered a coup d’état by Mr. Musk, validating Tesla’s generation and giving the corporation enormous influence over the auto industry.
Almost every major automaker has announced plans to replace the hardware and software in their cars to make them compatible with Tesla chargers. Ford has sent adapters to owners of its older EVs so they can connect them to Tesla chargers.
Musk said on X, the social media site he owns, that Tesla would slow down the structure of new charging stations and focus more on the availability and expansion of 100 percent of existing locations.
On Monday, in an email to workers reviewed by The New York Times, Musk said he would dissolve “the entire organization of about 500 people” who had been working to build new Supercharger stations. In the message, he said the company will bring entire stations under structure and build new ones “when critical. “
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