The restructuring process at Tesla continues, and now CEO Elon Musk has fired the entire division that worked on Tesla's fast charger, the Supercharger. In addition, two senior managers were fired, as well as hundreds of others.
Musk announced accordingly Financial Times Internally announced on Monday that Supercharger Group President, Rebecca Tenucci, and Daniel Ho, Head of New Products, will leave the company along with their divisions. There will be about 500 people in the supercharger section.
An uncertain future for fast charging devices
Tesla's network of ultra-fast chargers was among the largest in the world, and according to the Financial Times, that was one of the reasons Tesla enjoyed such a dominant position over its competitors for so long.
The newspaper wrote that the operation of fast chargers will continue, but it is uncertain what impact the separations will have on the future of chargers.
“We hope these actions make clear that we need to get 'all tough' when it comes to hiring and cost cutting. While some in management are taking this seriously, most are not yet,” Musk wrote in the memo, which First published by The Information.
He then added that any manager who retains more than three people who clearly do not pass the excellent, necessary and reliable test should resign.
At the time of writing, Tesla's share was down 1.1 percent on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the stock fell more than 5 percent.
Kicks 10 percent
The downsizing of the express shipping division comes as a result of Musk's downsizing strategy, which was announced in April. Musk announced that Tesla will cut at least 10% of its workforce, which equates to more than 14,000 employees. According to Musk, downsizing will show shareholders that the company is “innovative and hungry.”
In the first quarter, Tesla reported a revenue decline of nearly 10%, the first decline since the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic spread. The stock price has more than halved from its peak in November 2021.
Musk “rejected our entire charging enterprise,” Will Jameson, who worked on Tesla's supercharger team, wrote according to FT on Another employee in this department, George Bahado, posted on LinkedIn confirming his dismissal.
“What this means for the charging network, the NACS charging standard, and all the exciting work we've done across the industry, I don't know yet. What a wild ride it's been,” Bhado wrote.
Musk said in the memo that the fast chargers under construction will be completed, and “some” new locations will get fast chargers.
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