Tesla fires whole Supercharger team [Update: Musk says supercharger growth will continue]

[RickLightning]

Latest episode of Out of Spec seems to think that several major auto manufacturers may be considering pulling out of NACS and going back to CCS1

Let me fix that title for you:

Youtube guy creates 20 minute video to get impressions and ad revenue, speculating like on a forum, but getting paid to do so. Knows no actual facts, just pulling stuff out of his behind.

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[thequackenbush]

*shrug* their channel seems to have been pretty well connected in the past. I think that conclusion is not a far reach

 

[CypherBlue]

from https://www.forbes.com.au/news/investing/tesla-fires-supercharger-team/

I don't think things will change very much. Superchargers will keep being installed, and older stations will be upgraded to support NACS. I will stay optimistic.

 

[Grease Lightning]

good question. and does it have anything to do with the email we all got about a one month delay in shipping?

I suspect it is the opposite. I suspect the team got blamed by Ford and the other OEMs being frustrated about the NACS transition.

For example, if I was Farley I would have been lighting Elons phone up if they barely delivered 1,000 adapter and already moved to Rivian, and as the rumor mill stated GM in another couple weeks.

I suspect the team might have over estimated when the adapters would be ready, ill planned the phase in, and with falling revenues possibly Elon decided to blame them for the deals being “too cheap” as access to the superchargers did give away a competitive advantage.

Sad day for them, Tesla shareholders, us non-Tesla owners, and EVs as a whole. Elon is a hot head and likely will regret removing the whole team. Executives, are another story, as they know they are at the mercy of the CEO.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

Let me fix that title for you:

Youtube guy creates 20 minute video to get impressions and ad revenue, speculating like on a forum, but getting paid to do so. Knows no actual facts, just pulling stuff out of his behind.

Is there anything he said that was not true?? His entire video was factual and citing sources involved or affected. The real and potential impacts he talked about are completely legitimate. What do you want him to do? Say nothing and ignore the topic until he can schedule an interview with Elon??

 

[davehu]

I suspect it is the opposite. I suspect the team got blamed by Ford and the other OEMs being frustrated about the NACS transition.....

perhaps but there is more at play. if the delay was the case, the top execs would pay the price, but dumping the whole team (500 people?) There is a much bigger play at hand. it's all speculation until it isn't.

 

[Grease Lightning]

perhaps but there is more at play. if the delay was the case, the top execs would pay the price, but dumping the whole team (500 people?) There is a much bigger play at hand. it's all speculation until it isn't.

Oh I agree and I was going to cover some of those other issues, but since the comment was specifically related to the adapter/transition I held my comments to that.

Other issues:

1. Site manager stating a date in a public forum, that was not likely fully vetted for dissemination.
2. “Delay” in the roll out of V4 stations so the Cyberwedgie can charge at full capacity rather then looking lethargic agains GM’s offerings.
3. As others have mentioned, pricing that at times is extremely cheaper than the CCS competition. Elon is likely seeing that as lost revenue potential as margins are tighter and overall revenue is down.
4…..Elon is an Azz?‍

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

I think laying off the entire supercharger team makes no sense whatsoever.

A lot of CEOs are empty suits, but many of them did build their companies and Elon is one of those. Similar to Bill Gates, Jobs, the Google pair, Jensen (nvidia), etc.. He might be turning into a Howard Hughes type character.

IMO, based on zero facts and 100% conjecture, this is a power move. This is a result of some management level execs on the team either not responding to criticism, insisting on going in a different direction, or not meeting some other mandates/requests that were put in place.

I can see someone walking out of a meeting after flipping the table and shouting "you've got one month to shape up, otherwise you and your whole f*cking team are gone."

Someone thought it was a bluff, but it wasn't.

I bet the techs and engineers get hired back.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Look, I get it. They shipped out the adapters for Order #7000 before they shipped out the first 1500 adapters. But who on here complained hard enough to get 500 people fired?

 

[Texas Dan]

Look, I get it. They shipped out the adapters for Order #7000 before they shipped out the first 1500 adapters. But who on here complained hard enough to get 500 people fired?

????

 

[carys98]

I suspect it is the opposite. I suspect the team got blamed by Ford and the other OEMs being frustrated about the NACS transition.

For example, if I was Farley I would have been lighting Elons phone up if they barely delivered 1,000 adapter and already moved to Rivian, and as the rumor mill stated GM in another couple weeks.

I suspect the team might have over estimated when the adapters would be ready, ill planned the phase in, and with falling revenues possibly Elon decided to blame them for the deals being “too cheap” as access to the superchargers did give away a competitive advantage.

Sad day for them, Tesla shareholders, us non-Tesla owners, and EVs as a whole. Elon is a hot head and likely will regret removing the whole team. Executives, are another story, as they know they are at the mercy of the CEO.

Part of the adapter problem is Farley’s fault. Part of the deal should have been the right for Ford to use their own supply chain to build the adapters so they wouldn’t be dependent on Tesla.

 

[sotek2345]

IMO, based on zero facts and 100% conjecture, this is a power move. This is a result of some management level execs on the team either not responding to criticism, insisting on going in a different direction, or not meeting some other mandates/requests that were put in place.

I can see someone walking out of a meeting after flipping the table and shouting "you've got one month to shape up, otherwise you and your whole f*cking team are gone."

Someone thought it was a bluff, but it wasn't.

I bet the techs and engineers get hired back.

I have seen commentary elsewhere that he had asked the lead of that team to cut a certain % of their staff, and they pushed back asking for a lower number of positions to cut. He responded by cutting the whole team.

 

[jpblincoln]

https://www.fastcompany.com/91116917/elon-musk-tesla-charging-network-layoffs

 

[jpblincoln]

Attila the Hun was known for his ruthless tactics and his willingness to use fear to maintain control over his army. He was known to execute soldiers who disobeyed him or showed weakness, which sent a message to the rest of the army that they needed to follow his orders or face severe consequences.

 

[DesertEV]

Chinese companies already hold important patents on Lithium batteries and the successors to Lithium batteries. This is not a matter of reverse engineering since much of the engineering is done in China in the first place. Do a google earth and look at Wuhan sometime (don't be scared, they are not infectious.) I'm not saying that this is a good thing, but they have already outstripped us in technological innovation and it is something that we can't address by applying old stereotypes. There are a hell of a lot of people in China and they are just as smart as us, many of them excelled at our best Universities back in the day when that meant something.

China does not care about US Companies patents in their country so why should we care about their patents here in the US.

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