Tesla Business and News Thread
05-13-24, 04:13 PM
#2641
Pole Position
Tesla Rehires Some Supercharger Workers Weeks After Musk’s Cuts
- Director of charging for North America returns to carmaker
- CEO stunned industry by cutting almost entire group last month
A Tesla Inc. electric vehicle Supercharger station.Photographer: Magda Gibelli/Bloomberg
By Dana Hull and Edward Ludlow
May 13, 2024 at 4:00 PM UTC
Tesla Inc. has begun hiring back some of the almost 500 members of its Supercharging team that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk dismissed late last month.
Chief among the personnel who have returned is Max de Zegher, the director of charging for North America, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. De Zegher was one of the top managers after Rebecca Tinucci, the senior director Musk fired late last month along with virtually everyone else in the charging group.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many laid-off workers have been rehired. Musk and de Zegher didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Musk’s dissolution of the team stunned the broader electric vehicle sector, as Superchargers arguably have been Tesla’s shrewdest product. In the past year, the company convinced competitors to embrace its plugs as an industry standard and signed agreementswith many of the world’s biggest manufacturers to open its network to their customers.
After widespread blowback, Musk https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-10/elon-musk-changes-tune-on-tesla-superchargers-after-mass-firing pledged last week to spend “well over” $500 million on growing Tesla’s network this year. Days earlier, the CEO said the company planned to add chargers at a
The @TeslaCharging account on X — the social media platform Musk owns — followed up Musk on May 10 with
Tesla Charging
@TeslaCharging
·
Follow
Since 2012, Charging has been a pillar of Tesla's mission, providing dependable freedom to travel. Supercharging is the largest network globally, with the highest capital + operational efficiency, and we will continue to sustain & grow the network. Thank you to site hosts &…
Musk, 52, has walked back impulsive cost-cutting measures before. In 2019, he announced Tesla was going to close most of its stores and shift sales online, blindsiding much of his sales team. Ten days later — after landlords refused to let the company out of its leases — the CEO backtracked and raised vehicle prices.
A similar situation played out at Twitter in late 2022: Soon after Musk laid off roughly half the company, dozens of employees were asked to return.
Tesla unveiled its first Superchargers in September 2012, shortly after the carmaker started producing the Model S sedan. The company now has more than 6,200 stations and 57,000 connectors worldwide.
Last edited by swajames; 05-13-24 at 04:16 PM.
05-14-24, 04:09 AM
#2642
Super Moderator
Don't feel bad, I didn't know what it was called until about a week ago myself. 
It's not totally unprecedented. In the late '90s/early 2000's I worked for AT&T/Lucent. There were about 30,000 employees on our campus. Every quarter or two, they laid off several thousand, and once while I was there they laid off like 13,000. But the number of employees in the hallways never really seemed to change, and my coworkers stayed the same, even though some of them had been laid off.
I didn't say it was a good precedent.
Thinking about it now, I wonder how many planned trips at the end of a quarter, so they could take a vacation without using any PTO.
I didn't say it was a good precedent.
Thinking about it now, I wonder how many planned trips at the end of a quarter, so they could take a vacation without using any PTO.
Last edited by geko29; 05-14-24 at 04:20 AM.
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AMIRZA786 (05-14-24)
05-14-24, 07:49 AM
#2643
They are owned partly by VW, Ford and others.
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05-14-24, 08:17 AM
#2646
Pole Position
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Allen K (05-14-24)
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05-14-24, 10:42 AM
#2648
Lexus Test Driver
05-15-24, 10:15 AM
#2649
Pole Position
https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...ff-2024-05-15/
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appear that reports were accurate that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appear that reports were accurate that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
Last edited by swajames; 05-15-24 at 11:06 AM.
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Mike728 (05-15-24)
05-15-24, 10:29 AM
#2650
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...ff-2024-05-15/
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appears reports that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appears reports that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
The good news...it will be alright once the smoke clears. With the combination of high gas prices here, the discounting and the 0.99 percent APR I'm seeing a lot of those same people revisit their purchases
05-15-24, 01:15 PM
#2651
https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...ff-2024-05-15/
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appear that reports were accurate that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
Interesting read, and perhaps the reason why Musk posted a childish meme taking a pop at Reuters yesterday before this came out.
It does appear that reports were accurate that the mass supercharger team firings were indeed retaliation because their leader, who had already cut 15% to 20% of the team maintained that deeper cuts would undermine the business unit's fundamentals.
It also appears that the noise from Musk about spending $500m and growing the network is just that - noise:
"The energy team was already struggling to keep pace with its current workload, said two of the former charging-network staffers. Yet when the layoffs came down on April 30, Musk posted that the company “still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace.” On Friday, Musk posted that “Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.”
Two former Supercharger staffers called the $500 million expansion budget a significant reduction from what the team had planned for 2024 - but nonetheless a challenge requiring hundreds of employees. In an analysis provided to Reuters, San Francisco research firm EVAdoption estimated a $500 million investment this year would translate to Tesla building 77% fewer charging ports per month in the United States compared with the automaker’s pace through April."
This is still certifiably insane. This report plus the recent reports of Tesla now rehiring people from this team doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
Don't worry though, some people will always defend his nuttiness..."cults" are that way ;-)
05-15-24, 01:26 PM
#2652
Pole Position
Not so fast. I’ve maintained broadly the same position on Musk for years, and my opinion was formed when my company provided certain technology services to one of his and I saw first hand how he treats people.
05-15-24, 01:34 PM
#2653
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
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swajames (05-15-24)
05-15-24, 05:13 PM
#2654
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
methinks thou doth protest too much (as usual) cutting expenses is certifiably insane huh? as i mentioned before, tesla can outsource supercharger installations (and even manufacturing).
just because you had a bad experience with musk and your company and you don't like how he treats people doesn't mean everything musk does is bad or 'certifiably insane'
and without musk the company wouldn't be worth anywhere near what it is today. his package was tied to 'insane' goals which were achieved anyway.
not that it matters financially whether he gets the package or not, but to just take it away because some clown court thinks it's not fair is awful.
the situation is a lot like steve jobs and bill gates (pattern here) who were both 'awful' to people for most of their lives.
billionaire founders typically don't get there by being warm and cuddly and kind.
cutting expenses is certifiably insane huh? as i mentioned before, tesla can outsource supercharger installations (and even manufacturing).
It certainly doesn't do much to support the pay package.
and without musk the company wouldn't be worth anywhere near what it is today. his package was tied to 'insane' goals which were achieved anyway.
not that it matters financially whether he gets the package or not, but to just take it away because some clown court thinks it's not fair is awful.
the situation is a lot like steve jobs and bill gates (pattern here) who were both 'awful' to people for most of their lives.
billionaire founders typically don't get there by being warm and cuddly and kind.
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AMIRZA786 (05-15-24)
05-15-24, 05:27 PM
#2655
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
methinks thou doth protest too much (as usual) cutting expenses is certifiably insane huh? as i mentioned before, tesla can outsource supercharger installations (and even manufacturing).
just because you had a bad experience with musk and your company and you don't like how he treats people doesn't mean everything musk does is bad or 'certifiably insane'
and without musk the company wouldn't be worth anywhere near what it is today. his package was tied to 'insane' goals which were achieved anyway.
not that it matters financially whether he gets the package or not, but to just take it away because some clown court thinks it's not fair is awful.
the situation is a lot like steve jobs and bill gates (pattern here) who were both 'awful' to people for most of their lives.
billionaire founders typically don't get there by being warm and cuddly and kind.
cutting expenses is certifiably insane huh? as i mentioned before, tesla can outsource supercharger installations (and even manufacturing).just because you had a bad experience with musk and your company and you don't like how he treats people doesn't mean everything musk does is bad or 'certifiably insane'
and without musk the company wouldn't be worth anywhere near what it is today. his package was tied to 'insane' goals which were achieved anyway.
not that it matters financially whether he gets the package or not, but to just take it away because some clown court thinks it's not fair is awful.
the situation is a lot like steve jobs and bill gates (pattern here) who were both 'awful' to people for most of their lives.
billionaire founders typically don't get there by being warm and cuddly and kind.