Alison Diner/Getty Images
A Tesla charging station in a parking lot in Santa Monica, California in September 2022.
London/New York
CNN
—
Tesla has abruptly fired the team that runs its electric vehicle charging business, casting doubt on the future of one of the largest US charging networks that other carmakers such as General Motors and Ford have said they will use.
In social media posts On Tuesday, several Tesla employees confirmed the layoffs, first reported.
Tesla “has let our entire charging company go,” William Navarro Jameson, Strategic Charging Programs at Tesla, Wrote in X.
A Post on LinkedInLane Chaplin, senior manager of Tesla's charging division, wrote: “In the middle of the night, along with all my #teslaglobal #charging colleagues, I learned that the Tesla charging org is no more.”
The lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main barriers to widespread EV adoption, and Tesla's extensive “Supercharger” network has long been a key selling point for its vehicles. Until recently, that network could only be used by Tesla vehicles.
Following Tesla CEO Elon Musk's call, every major automaker in the U.S. is committed to producing EVs. Compatible with Tesla's charging technologyNow called the North American Charging Standard.
In response, major EV charging providers such as Electrify America and EVgo have also announced that they are beginning to build chargers with NACS cables.
“What this means for the charging network, NACS and all the amazing work we've been doing across the industry, I still don't know,” Jameson wrote in his post.
Tesla did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
Musk Said in X tuesday The company “plans to grow the Supercharger network at a slower pace to more new locations, focusing more on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.”
According to Dan Ives, senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, “Musk is studying the room around soft EV demand globally.”
“Tesla is facing a… demand storm that unfortunately requires strategic changes to get back on track,” he told CNN, but he added: “Abolishing the entire sector is counterproductive.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
