Elon Musk fires entire Supercharger team

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly sacked the entire department responsible for the firm’s Supercharger network.

In a memo to staff, Musk said that Rebecca Tinucci, head of the Supercharger group, and Daniel Ho, head of new products, were leaving the company along with their entire teams, amounting to around 500 people, according to the FT.

Tesla’s Supercharger network is the biggest globally, with 50,000 chargers across North America, Europe and east Asia. While the layoffs will not affect the operation of the existing network, the move is expected to slow down its expansion.

Several of the Supercharger team confirmed the news on social media, saying it wasn’t clear why the decision had been made or what it meant for the future of the Supercharger network and work to establish a unified charging standard across several major American car makers.

In the memo first reported by The Information, Musk wrote: “Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction.

“While some execstaff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.”

He added that any manager “who retains more than three people who don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test” should resign.

Musk insisted that the Supercharger network would continue to grow. Writing on X, he said: “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”.

However, it is being reported that some planned Supercharger projects have already been scrapped. InsideEVs reported that four new locations in New York had been dropped.

The Supercharger network has been a major part of the brand’s appeal with its widespread availability and fast, reliable chargers. Exclusive access for Tesla owners was also a major draw for drivers but Tesla has in recent years begun opening sites to owners of other EVs. In the UK 42 Supercharger sites – around 10% of the country’s total – are accessible to drivers of any EV with a CCS port.

The move comes shortly after Musk announced plans to shed around 10% of Tesla’s entire workforce – around 14,000 people – in the face of a 10% slump in revenues in the first quarter of this year.