Tesla Rocks The EV Industry By Firing 500+ From Its EV Charging Division - What Is Elon Thinking?
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- I examine the recent Tesla news in which Elon Musk fired over 500 employees from his EV charging division. This move will likely affect everyone in the industry and can potentially disrupt the transition to the NACS connector.
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One of the worst parts of this announcement is how unprofessional it is to leave your commercial partners out to dry with no notice. So many sites under planned installations involving contractors, utilities, and OEM’s ready to convert to NACS. Leaving no one at Tesla to talk to or email is insane. I have never heard of any company doing this unless they are totally bankrupt and closed.
There was a clue that something was up with Tesla Supercharger access, GM was supposed to get access Feb/Mar, but they announced that it would be later in the year now. This was before the layoff was announced.
Really? Have you ever been fired? They have security guards escort you out of the office.
Which commercial partners??
@@deplorablechump8758this is different from one person being fired. This is the whole team. Leaving no one behind that can communicate with all the other companies that they were in various stages of development of sites. That’s totally unprofessional.
You've never heard of lay offs??? Look at Ford, GN and VW!!!
There are two separate questions in play here. The one that is getting the most debate is what is the business case for doing this. The other question is what is the reason for doing it THIS WAY. There is plenty of room for debate on the "why" this was done. I can really see no room for debate on the "how" it was done. Firing people by middle-of-the-night emails is cowardly and cruel. Leaving an array of contractors, suppliers, partners, and utilities in confusion without even a means to contact Tesla for guidance or explanation is irrational. This is NOT a business restructuring done by responsible people. It is a sowing of chaos by someone who has long lost reference to the line between rationality and irrationality. It is not genius. It is psychosis.
Touché. Well written.
Yep, musk just got lucky in making his money. As a business owner he lacks in many ways.
@@MR_THINQ He’s the proverbial guy who started on 3B (contrary to myth, he had only financial interest in Tesla until he forced his way in) but swears he hit the grand slam. And the board is too attached and weak to oust him. It’s laughable they’re fighting to get his $55B back to him.
I’ll spit on Tesla’s grave and laugh while doing it.
How long before NO ONE will work for him? He's another Trump, just smarter and thus more dangerous.
Generally, especially in California (not sure where his Supercharger team was) but most "at will" states this has become the way to lay off or fire people. Legal will advise you to fully cut off employee physical and electronic access and have as little face time as possible with supervisors or HR.
I work in EV charging and everything Tom said here rings true from what we’ve seen.
I just brought home a new 2024 Chevy Blazer RS EV. I charge 95% at home, but I was still anticipating NACS becoming available this Spring to GM owners. Hard to keep up with the whims of Elon. We need stability in this industry, not chaos.
There's your trouble; you charge 95% at home... but you want a nationwide infrastructure of public chargers that are as convenient as gas stations?
All sitting empty waiting for that occasional EV owner, that actually takes their EV on a road trip instead of their ICE car. And even then, they take ten times longer to refuel, so you're getting a fraction of the traffic even if they are fully occupied.
That's why so many charging companies are going broke and laying off staff, there's no money in this model, not even with all the subsidies- hardly surprising that Tesla is doing the same.
@@user-jb2om7cm8m Waiting for that occasional EV owner? You must live in a rural area or making an assumption. That's not the case for the EV chargers in my area. I also do my charging 100% not at home.
A GM owner upset at what Tesla does.
Where’s GM’s charging network?
What about the whims of Mary Barra and other legacy autos that have built zero chargers!!
@@currytigre Yeah, even rural Supercharger locations rarely empty in my experience. In fact, you can see usage by time of day in the app for every location. And EV owners who come inside for the business model of gas stations better than gasoline cars whose owners only sometimes do...gas stations make their money off sales in the store, not at the pump.
It really seemed like Elon threw a temper tantrum when the exec in charge of charging didn't clean house fast enough.
Every news story seems to confirm this as the catalyst. Hell, even Musk's email used "trustworthy" as a categorization for which employees wouldn't be culled. While you certainly want trustworthy employees, it was an odd inclusion in a mass firing. It lends credence to the move as a personal one rather than a weighted, smart business decision.
Elon Musk is using dangerous drugs .. his actions are tearing apart Tesla's work culture and customer loyalty.
I'm guessing Delaware's challenging his $50billion+ compensation has more to do with his trashing of Tesla. He's having a tantrum over that, and probably other wholly unrelated subjects. The irresponsibility of the way this was done indicates he's becoming increasingly unhinged.
@@bkanegson So here's what I can piece together from testimonies in the news: he was already downsizing (as we know from a few weeks ago) but wanted to downsize more. This is likely for the $50+ billion package he wanted from stock holders. But senior management pushed back, rightly pointing out that further cuts could undermine the stability of the company. So Elon went ape shit and basically said "RESPEKT MAH AUTHORITAH!" and decided instead of culling a handful from all departments, he would just whole sale fire everyone to spite the senior management (who he also fired).
@@Necrotron. He’s willing to burn it all down out of spite. If the board can vote him out as CEO, in everyone’s interest that they do. And then fix this/ hire back the team. With him gone, sales will normalize upward.
The Tesla board of directors owe thousands of shareholders both large and small a rational explanation for an action with such major consequences. There seems no upside for Tesla in this decision, and indeed creates an atmosphere of distrust for any that might invest, work with, or purchase from the company.
As a Tesla stockholder and a Model Y owner, this news upsets me. I totally agree with what you’re saying. I don’t understand what Elon’s thinking. Some of his bold actions can be explained, but not this one. Very disappointed.
Elon has been a little unhinged for years, his staff have been able to keep things going behind the crazy, until now.
Same here Tesla owner and shareholder. It's time for Musk to go. If you have shares in Tesla vote against his pay package and anything they are "for".
This move is SO bizarre, it really makes zero sense to me. I mean, sure, the current supercharger network is robust, and people will still be able to charge on a road trip. BUT, its going to stifle EV sales going forward because the current SC network is NOT ready for full EV adoption by more people. And there are many areas in this country where its difficult to get in & OUT from with the current map of superchargers. This is a huge problem moving forward, IMO.
I had been planning on moving on from my Model 3 up to a Model Y, but with this move, i may switch back to a hybrid/ice based vehicle.
Musk needs to be removed from the company.
For the next 15 years, hybrid is the way to go.
@@billsimpson604 re: "For the next 15 years, hybrid is the way to go."
Indiana just recently awarded Tesla 25% of the NEVI funded sites, which is the most of any single installer. Totally in jeopardy of ever being built, leaving a huge hole in the state’s coverage. Hope the contracts had completion guarantees, penalties for non-starts and ability to reassign to another company.
He insulted the Indian PM by calling off the scheduled visit & then going to China !
It's a legit question. Will Tesla follow through on their NEVI stations or did Musk just sabotage the whole process? Remember, Tesla already did this in California last year when they got awarded $5 million to build stations and then cancelled the projects. The whole process had to start over again and infrastructure delayed because Tesla is unreliable.
I'm sure the funds will be diverted to someone else.
@@newworldodor2641 State grants don’t often have right-of-refusal stipulations, so if a bid winner refuses to do the work, the state agency has to start the RFP process all over again. That’s what happened in 2022 in California when Tesla won multiple state contracts to build open-access superchargers, then Tesla cancelled the projects in 2023. This damaged smaller companies by blocking them from getting the jobs and hurt EV drivers by making non-Teslas wait another year before a station could be built.
The superchargers were Tesla's moat.
It really was, and massive potential revenue source, they could have done this way better.
I understand that they need to cut cost, but they literally have a huge potential for a monopoly for a revenue center.
They are almost completely empty around here. They are only busy on weekends. I know there are areas where they are busy like CA.
Umm moats arnt shared….. you realize this right. How come you can’t detect the failed logic in your own sentence?
@@ultrastoat3298 Moats have more than one meaning. An economic moat is, "a business's ability to maintain competitive advantages over its competitors in order to protect its long-term profits and market share." Tesla is winning the charging business. In fact, sharing it with others will turn that part of Tesla's business into a monopoly. Other EV chargers are completely unreliable and the worst part of owning an EV. Tesla owners don't have that worry. But other companies ability to use Tesla Superchargers isn't enough to sell their cars. They have a lot of improving to do and so far Kia is the closest in the US.
Around 1 of 7 TTTRILLION dollar companies
So now Tesla is trying to sell more cars and at the same time hurting the credibility of the availability of their charging network…..makes a lot of sense. Elon, do us a favor and fire up that rocket to Mars with you inside.
Elon needs to stop watching The Apprentice reruns.
"Critical SC Maintenance Crew... YOU'RE FIRED...!!!" (best "accordion hands" Trump voice)
Electrify America should be trying to hire Rebecca Tinucci and her team like asasp. EA as far as reliability concerns has not gotten any better.
Agreed. Ms. Tinucci is likely currently considering several attractive offers, if she hasn't already signed her next employment contract.
They all have a skill set that's in demand. Most of them will land on their feet and probably do even better.
I think this could be the biggest self-own Elon has made outside of overpaying for Twitter.
I cannot understand this move it makes no sense to delete the whole division that is essential to DC charging the vehicles it makes.
I heard via my Tesla Owners Club that:
“Rebecca Tinucci pushed back on Musk saying she could not and would not make the cutbacks to her SC team he was demanding.
So his apparent response was ‘I don’t need any of your team’ and shut the lot down globally”.
This sounds exactly like something I could imagine Elon doing based on his past actions - look at his huge cuts at Twitter for example.
But unlike Twitter this time it’s hardware which is much different to software - the scaling of hardware is much much different and requires many more staff and contractors.
Good analysis, fordgrunt. I wish I had shorted Tesla stock the day before this announcement...
No doubt about it, E'loon's NPD ADHD OCD disorders are out of control. I swear to Gaia that he lobbed that grenade out of petulant jealousy. A couple of months ago, Rebecca Tinucci was honored by Time as one of the "top 100 most influential climate influencers," and his fragile ego couldn't stand *NOT* being the one in the spotlight. At this point I just hope that BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis hire Tinucci and accelerate the rollout of their IONNA charging network.
He didn't like being told that he might be wrong to lay off so many, so he laid off everyone in a fit of rage.
Unfortunately, it will be the 750,000 early Tesla adopters who will lose as their cars can only charge at Tesla superchargers. It sure seems he doesn't care about Tesla's mission, If it conflicts with his ego.
Sadly this makes way more sense than anything else.
I agree. Both bad for the industry and unprofessional conduct by the CEO. Just sad news...
Great piece. This is a disaster.
Government will finish installing chargers across other half of th UNITED STATES …… that’s a cluster fk in th makin
Every one of us who saw through the ‘Emperor has no clothes’ of Tesla hype saw this coming for years.
I slightly disagree. He’s always been a bold guy and zigged when others zagged and for the most part has decent results. But I do agree that his fanboys held this dude to godlike status and that he could do no wrong.
The last couple of years he’s been unhinged. Imo just before he bought twitter, he was going off the rails. Him being in Twitter and in echo chambers, combined with his drug addiction( I read somewhere that he consumes Ketamine a fk ton), and enormous ego and narcissism, he’s fully bonkers now.
the charging team was the backbone of the Tesla industry, wow talk about shooting yourself in the foot, disgraceful way to appreciate your workforce
This is what happens when a petulant man-child is in charge of your multi-billion dollar corporation. A true leader would not have taken such a decision without at least providing a clear rationale and an explanation of the ramifications for customers, partners, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders. Tesla's shareholders and Board should seriously look at whether Musk is the right person to take Tesla into the future.
14:51 EV owners do care if the fast charging site is Tesla or brand-x. Tesla Superchargers have a reputation of being very reliable and having plenty of capacity to minimize long queues of cars waiting to charge. At least in the US, I don't know of any other DC fast charging company that has a reputation anywhere as close as Tesla.
Agree 💯! I drive a Model 3 and a Mach-E GT but DC fast charging expansion is still required. The almighty Elon is wrong! 😑
ELON - Is perceived to be very arrogant, too much money does that to some people 👎🏿👎🏿
The lack of planning here indicates he's gone from "arrogant" to unhinged.
Money is a magnifier of what you already are.
Apparently, Elon doesn't agree with you about the "too much money" part. He's still trying to extort another $55 billion out of Tesla.
The best thing for the industry, users and Tesla as a company at this point in time would be for him to step down and away or be removed. Elon's bizarre whim decisions jerk the company in different directions at random points and it's hurting it. The Cybertruck and this charging decision are both huge issues to lay at his feet.
Yes, I think that too few recognize that CyberTruck is a big part of why Tesla is in its current state, needless complexities that still aren't resolved and ramped, distracting from more strategic endeavors like cheaper models (pretty core to the mission), and further rollout of fast and slow chargers until most everyone's comfortable buying an EV. If Tesla had tackled a cheaper car instead of CyberTruck, it'd have that to market now, and likely be doing better in sales, worldwide. Too much focus on "cool" over mission.
Musk handpicked the Board. No way that the Board removes Elon for this bizarre and inexcusable hissy fit. It's a helluva way to run a business.
Elon clearly no longer supports Tesla's mission to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy". Destroying the supercharger division and the industry adoption of NACS clearly decelerates the transition.
Not really a surprise, from the guy that supports DT even when he was clearly sabotaging anything environmental and EV, including suing the CA legislation. All this now is smoke and mirrors because of the cheaper model cancelation, CT fiasco, and the FSD scam. I suspect that Tesla can either drown along with mr. bully, or go forward without him.
Good Job Tom. It is fortunate that he did this crazy decision now instead of 2 years ago. Ford & other OEMs have helped push EV's along and we will never go back. But this is definitely a setback at our expense caused by Musk.
It's not Tesla doing this. It's Musk.
Yeah. I've suspected for a long time that Tesla was managed more by Musk's handlers than Musk. And this seems to confirm it.
At this point I think Tesla would be better off with a Tim Cook style CEO. They really only sell one model. The M3 and a blown up version of the model 3. With nothing really in the pipeline it’s inevitable that demand will fall off. Musk is more BS artist now than visionary leader.
The CEO is the face of the company! It is Musk, everything is your fault as a CEO, that’s the job!!!
And he knows something that we don’t.
However, at this point, you can't separate the two. For his benefit (as the biggest share holder) and everyone else's, he should walk away, put leadership in the hands of an actual business person. It has outgrown him.
This is insane. I want to dump my Tesla and get a Volvo EV. I could ignore Elon in the past, but I can’t any longer.
Vovlo Chargin better good luck whit dat!! How’s software
My biggest fear with this is that the NACS transition falls apart without Tesla’s supercharging team’s support. Or it could fragment into some manufacturers supporting NACS and some supporting CCS1. We’ve come so far and are so close to a unifying standard across all North American EVs, and it would suck to see Elon blow it all up at the last second.
That’s not going to happen. Even if they decided to not use the supercharger network they can still and will change to NACS
NACS is already being turned into an open standard by SAE So it will be maintained with or without Tesla's input, thankfully. The real issue here is the potential impact on the network.
@@Necrotron exactly. NACS really has nothing to do with Tesla anymore. EA chargers have already started to deploy with them.
@@doomsday9973 already? Damn, I'm surprised. They announced they were phasing out CHAdeMO 2 years ago but it still see one at every station I pass (I like to see what cars are charging). Sorta assumed the NACS roll out would be slow
So the charging , issue will be the same as now. No change . Other manufacturers have to invest and build it out not only Tesla.
Purchased a F150 Lightning and was thinking of going 100% EV. one big reason was access to SC network for road trips. SC was the insurance policy chargers on roadtrips. Hopefully other companies step up and fill the void.
They will, but it will take years. And without constant maintenance, the Tesla network will deteriorate. To quote from that UA-cam superstar, Scotty Kilmer, 'All machines eventually break'.
I have been a follower and fan of Elon's work since 2010 which led me to defend many of his highly questionable decisions over the past 4 years. For those of us following from the beginning it was easy to look at his great early work and give him the benefit of many, many doubts believing that his goals were noble. I can no longer do so. Since the payout of the first huge compensation package his actions appear more ego driven and less (if at all) focused on the mission statement of Tesla. The world needed a mass produced truck at a reasonable price and he took enormous company resources to create a polarizing, impractical, expensive and extremely hard to produce product of his ego. He has now cancelled the affordable EV and vaporized the most successful charging roll out on the planet. As he maneuvers for more ownership of the company and massive compensation packages he cuts costs by eliminating the income of the working class employees and raises the prices to consumers. His actions and leadership no longer represent anything noble or remotely impressive. I anticipate it will become harder and harder for him to convince everyone he's the smartest person in the room as we witness his dissension into the simplest of human failures, greed and ego.
Well said. As another who has followed Tesla closely since 2010 i would add that JB Straubel (not Elon) was the key person to Tesla's success. Things have gone downhill since JB resigned and started his new company. Perhaps in addition to his engineering skills, JB also kept Elon from expressing his worst behaiviour. .
He has always been the ultimate bullshit artist. You just drank the koolaid. Hopefully, your dose of the poison was not fatal.
Plus the fact that Elmo is not very smart
Musk blew it big time. Let's hope OEMs and other charging networks take up the slack and show Tesla up.
I’ve been waiting for Tom’s take on this situation, and was not disappointed. As a new EV owner (not a Tesla) State of Charge continues to be a great resource for following the charging industry.
This reminds me of the Peanuts series. Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown to kick and just when he ready to kick the ball, she yanks it away. There's more to this story. Usually it's about money.
What would stop Elon from just turning off ALL Superchargers? I mean he seems to have lost his mind.
It's all about FSD now. Nothing else seems to matter to Elon?
Nothing. Why would anyone buy a Tesla now given that scenario. Will he fire the service department next?
@benwinslow3101 he has thought of closing service centers. It's sad 1 man makes all the decisions.
He wants to hurt EV in America... that's his game plan.
How he moves other OEMs to Superchargers and wants it gone.
It’s crazy how dumb people are in these comments 😂
@@ojobee re: "It's sad 1 man makes all the decisions" well technically they don't any time you have a Board of Directors with FUNCTIONING SPINES. yeah, in any other entity that's NOT Tesla, part of their function is to act as a proverbial "Check and Balance" on any CEO that "goes Rogue" (which is what you've clearly had with Elon for more than a few years now).
Elon's brain-rot is accelerating.
I’m sure the Ketamine is really helping 😂
…………. In th comment section
Some sort of 'mind virus' is my understanding.
He's had a lot of great achievements, but Musk can be erratic, eccentric, somewhat unstable, he can lash out disproportionately, and is known for bullying his employees, dressing them down brutally in front of others and impulsively firing them on the spot. So it's not the first time that cracks in his shiny armor have shown up, especially around the head. He's acknowledged that he has Aperger's Syndrome and bipolar disorder.
Or Elon knows info that we the public does not. I suspect he wasn't closely watching Rebecca's build-out strategy, then learned it was not what he told her to do. Most of the newer V3 chargers around me have room for much more capacity, but Elon may not like where Rebecca's team has placed them. I'm only aware of one old V2 location that's landlocked.
Wow!! WTF was Musk thinking?? OMG, I have been trying to find a used Tesla for months. I guess I’m lucky that I have chosen to sit on the sidelines for now. 😮
Yes, Sell your Teslas NOW! Important message! Tesla is dead DED!
The other charging networks still stuck as much as they did before.
@@zerix01 Not on Monday. I am totally sure they will take up the slack from the missing superchargers and deliver the perfect cheap charging experience for every non-Tesla EV.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 Well EVgo needs to cut their prices in half before they can be competitive around where I am. I'm seeing 59¢ to 64¢ per kw/h on EVgo vs 39¢ on the Superchargers.
@@zerix01 Everybody and his grandma tells us: On monday all Superchargers will close and in two weeks Tesla will shut down completely.
Funny that Wallstreet thinks differently and buys TSLA like nothing else. They endorse what Elon has done to his company. Disrupt it!
End of sarcasm.
Of course all competitors stay in their cozy cradle and will not react to this news. And also of course Tesla will not shut down, superchargers will not stop working and everything will be fine and according to plan.
Which plan?
That one from 2008 that's been replenished every few years.
It's called the Master Plan, At the moment Part Deux. That is TWO in english, if somebody does not know.
We are waiting for Master Plan Part Tres. Or tria, tri, troi, drei - choose your favorite language.
How much shareholder value did Elon just remove? Tesla would have been better served to have spun the supercharger network out as a separate entity. Could have instantly monetized supercharging for billions of $$. Probably not enough to cover his $55B pay package, but hey it would have been something. But maybe this will make for a better EV charging marketplace- the great “diaspora event”.where all that talent and capability go out and kindle the rest of the industry. Elon may really be a saint in disguise- would have been just terrible if Tesla had maintained its dominance of the public charging infrastructure! Thank you Elon for giving of Tesla so generously!
I own a ID.4 an a Bolt EUV. I cancelled my NACS adapter from Lectron and A2Z until this all gets figured out.
Haha. Good. Dont want to see that garbo at superchargers anyways. If this all it takes to get the riff raff trying to slow charge in 2 stalls out, then fire more people please.
@@ultrastoat3298 Just drove a BMW ix, makes my Rivian feel old, and my Rivian makes my Tesla feel REALLY old. The old car makers are starting to get it. Very little garbo coming out now. Tesla chargers are getting old and need to go to 800v ..losing the team will hurt the future
@@ultrastoat3298 Idiot. I will order them once all of this smooths out and GM/VW gain access. All EV drivers should want all sites to be use by all.
I also saw an article indicating they canceled many summer internships with no notice, leaving those students in the lurch. Also a move that will
have ripple effects on the future talent pipeline.
It won’t. Also you’ve never cared when other companies do this. Tesla gets 3 million job applications a year. They will be able to hire people for the rest of YOUR life.
I have always been concerned with Elon Musk's monopoly over EVs, charging networks, and now Starlink satellites. He could pull a plug, make a unilateral decision like this, or any other weird things that pop into his mind (o, and there's a chip for that!).
"To be fair" Tom, there's no need to do that. He doesn't deserve even that level of credibility.
The most important development in the EV industry was the agreement to use J3400. The carrot for that transition was access to the SC network. This threatens that convergence which weakens the entire industry.
The immediate fallout will be to the OEMs getting access to the SC network. Everyone they were dealing with is gone. This includes the folks responsible for adding the new configurations and testing those configurations with the in-vehicle software. The loss of the institutional knowledge will take years to recover from.
Another great video, Tom. I own a Ford Mach-e with now over 30,000 miles. I did not use public charging between November and March. I did two road trips recently and would have appreciated having my NACS adapter, because charging on the road with CCS is still a challenge. I’m currently renting a Model 3 as my Mach-e got sideswiped and is in for body work for three weeks. Charging a Tesla is painless. I hope the team creates a new company to compete with Tesla.
If I was a Tesla owner I would be very worried what if musk just decided to no longer support the Tesla software next? Or other replacement car parts??
As a Tesla owner I am, concerned about that. I got my car right before Musk fell off the deep end. While the car itself is great, I do worry that Musk might go order to disable all the cars in a particular area/state because he doesn't like a politician in charge.
Exactly! His whole X disaster continues and now this?
Don't forget about the sudden and unexpected removal of Disney+ last year due to a personal tiff + very public hissy fit/meltdown after advertisers pulled away from Twitter... Given that + the abrupt supercharger team layoff, I'd say it is highly probable something like this will happen again at Tesla. At this point, I think it's beyond safe to say Elon is unstable, susceptible to major mood swings, and 110% driven by ego (which only exacerbates the first two issues).
It's a sad day for the EV industry, Tesla, Tesla owners, Tesla shareholders, and the hard working Tesla employees who have worked so hard to make the company what it is.
No Tesla owner is worrying about this 😂
@@ultrastoat3298...especially the ones as high as Elon.
With every head scratching move at Tesla, or bigoted, and/or thoughtless tweet Elon makes, I am reminded that I made the right call to get an Ioniq 5, and not a Y.
Almost bought a Tesla Y a month ago because of supercharger (SC); this would be my 3rd EV after an i3, and currently a Bolt EUV. Tesla took 17 Million from USA to build additional chargers and has not fulfilled that obligation.
Great video Tom! I find myself really ticked off that Elon had a temper tantrum that will likely impact EV adoption. So stupid of him.
Can't underestimate the threat this impulsive action will have on existing Tesla employees' trust in the company and their job security. This action erodes the mission of the company in the eyes of employees, investors, business partners and customers.
My 2 cents: Elon doesn't want Tesla to be an EV company anymore........Why I have no idea, but I can't really find a better explanation. Hopefully the board or someone convinces him to at least sell off the EV bits of the business instead of just throwing it away.
Musk is bored of EVs. He wants to do other things that are more interesting but he needs the Tesla wealth he's created to do those things.
So I guess we’ve got our next Howard Hughes identified. Wonder what hotel Elon will end up barricaded inside of, and will he have a favorite movie he watches relentlessly till the drugs carry him away. Ice station zebra was a good choice for Howard.
I have been skeptical of the transition away from the agreed-upon CCS1 standard for NACS since day 1. It always felt like a Trojan Horse, just trying to get into the (admittedly superior) Supercharger network. Elon would have been in a position to have something of a monopoly over charging, which would have been insanely powerful for him (and challenging for any other company). But man oh man, I never saw him blowing it up so soon.
I vote we just go back to CCS1. No other manufacturers have rolled out NACS cars yet. And let's get better regulation - like they have everywhere else in the world - to force Tesla into the standard used by every other vehicle in the region.
Yeah that’s not gonna happen lol
@@doomsday9973 Why not? Why should every other manufacturer have to redevelop their infrastructure and manufacturing processes to accommodate the whims of an erratic singular person? It's disruptive in a bad way to the adoption of EVs. Let's migrate Tesla's to CCS1 and embrace a regulated standard.
Having owned both a ccs and NACS native car, ccs is a horrible and user unfriendly connector. That is like saying we should all switch back to USB-A and ditch USB-C.
NACS is objectively a better connector.
@@jakthebomb Counterpoint - I think it's like saying we should all ditch the universally-agreed upon USB C port because Apple likes their Lightning connector.
CCS works all over the rest of the world perfectly fine.
@@CallMeIvan516Most countries in the world use CCS2 (compatible with 3 phase AC), and yes it works well. Few countries use CCS1 (1 phase AC).
Just an absurd move that will kill the industry. WOW.
I have seen this many times with small businesses when they are very successful very quickly.
The owner starts to think they are more important than the customer, partners/suppliers and staff, then take on the "You need us more than we need you", attitude.
Now Tesla isn't a small business, but it's run like one, has one person pulling the strings, and that person is Musk.
And he gave us a good example of his mindset when he told twitter advertisers to go fuck themselves.
Thinking you are God only works when you are God.
I can't see this ending well for musk or Tesla, and i'm getting the feeling this is a stack of cards just waiting for the wind to blow.
In conclusion we have to ask what rattled his cage, and i think it was not getting his 50b bonus, so he's telling Tesla to go fuck itself.
Yep, that's the way I see it too. Time for a new CEO. I nominate Rebecca Tinucci; seriously.
I've also seen time and time again that people think Elon Musk is insane, and then he turns around and makes his investors millions. Consider for a moment that you are wrong, that instead of this being an irrational decision, that it's a very rational decision. Hint: Will RoboTaxi use Superchargers? No. So how will they charge? There's your answer. That's why new Superchargers have been axed. There's something else in the pipe that we don't know about yet.
@@JeffKubelAgreed, could be wrong, I don't run Tesla.
Only time will tell.
I bought a Rivian exactly one month ago with the idea that long road trips would be as seamless as they are in my Model Y. I’m still waiting on my A2Z adapter. I’m not going to lie, I’m am a bit nervous about supercharger availability when we take this 4,400 mile road trip this June in the R1S. Chicago to Vancouver and back. 😢Yes we understand that Tesla SC stations have had an excellent track record for uptime. What I don’t understand is how much ongoing maintenance is required to accomplish this good uptime and can we except a temporary period of increased downtime while Tesla is still trying to get their sh** together and rebuild the SC preventive maintenance programs. My limited experience so far with EA aligns with what our UA-cam EV influencers (Kyle & Dave) have been complaining about for the past few years.
Tom the one thing you spoke on that stood out for me is the people aspect and relationships that are affected in the way it was handled. I think that is more significant that any thing else. Outside of that NACS is the better standard and of course the best or better thing does not always win. I hope level headed organizations and leaders take advantage of this opportunity and continue to support NACS. My thoughts are NACS has become the standard for North America that was the goal. Tesla has an acceptable footprint and in charging and others need to build out as well. Tesla set the standard have a good model of charging and the talent is out there to replicate the model. Pretty sure stuff like this happened before all the social media. I appreciate your insight and perspective Tom
Tesla financials and order books must be in a dire state. Meanwhile, Tesla's lack of Board and corporate governance on full display. Suffice to say, this ain't going to help the consumer brand, much less industry reputation. Serious alarm bells at Tesla
Really good summary and you made points that are sometimes overlooked.
I think Tesla realized the Cybertruck isn't going to be a major seller for them. Tesla promised to upgrade all their (~17k or so) superchargers while delivering only a few hundred cybertrucks a month. That's not worth it.
It's also bad news for the Semi, which also works at 1000 V and is only viable with Megachargers. It looks like that is not going to happen.
re: "It's also bad news for the Semi, which also works at 1000 V and is only viable with Megachargers. It looks like that is not going to happen." no worries, you can just leave any thoughts of the Semi out of this discussion altogether, as there was NEVER any real intent for that to happen. no like i've said from the beginning, the Semi was nothing more than a PUBLICITY STUNT for promoting Tesla Corp itself, and it was a stunt simply happening with the "assistance" of Pepsi-Co...
and really i have no problem with that as long as they told you the TRUTH. but instead what Elon was doing was letting the Fanboys be "duped" by their own CONFIRMATION BIAS, and think it was the start of something bigger (which it isn't).
Great opportunity for companies like Chargepoint to raise their stock price
I agree with you, Tom..
Elon needs to rethink his disastrous decision. NOT the right decision. Down size, not destroy the staff. 50 percent downsizing, would have been a huge cut!
For those OEMs that hitched their wagon to the J3400 NACS, I qoute the age_old idiom "If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas"
Switching to J3400 won't stop. It's a superior form factor to CCS1. The issue is whether other OEMs will actually get Supercharger access.
NACS isn't Tesla. It is an open charging standard with a superior design to anything else yet proposed. Tesla could disappear tomorrow and that would still be the best method and connector for charging your BEV.
@@anthonyc8499Agree
@@otm646Yes!
Completely agree! I quit a few weeks ago due to the abysmal leadership and management at Tesla. Super sad, such great employees and a pigeon CEO 😔
I’ve always said that the real big money in the EVs is in the charging and not the cars.
It’s like in the gold rush, the people who made the money where the people selling the shovels and picks and not the prospectors looking for the gold!
Two theories: 1. Elon threw a tantrum on pushback from the head of charging or 2. Elon is trying to get the rest of the industry to build out DC fast chargers and intends to make the chargers but have others install them (sharing costs). Time will tell.
Option 2: Still not a professional way to accomplish it.
Option 3: None Of The Above. unfortunately everyone must GET OVER THEIR "burning desire" to try and "make sense of the senseless..." (Pro-Tip: it can't be done).
I am not surprised that Tesla would decrease investment in what they obviously see as a low margin business. I saw this happen many times when I worked in development at IBM. I am sure that many people remember when IBM sold the IBM PC business after it became a commodity business.
IBM, in their infinite wisdom, saw profit margins in manufacturing as too low, so they sold the whole business to Lenovo, who are still making money with it. Are you implying that the Supercharger network may be sold off? One problem with that scenario is that the Supercharger network is making a nice profit. Another problem is that Musk just greatly reduced the sales value of the Supercharger network by firing all the people who made it a great success. At the same time Musk sent a host of knowledgeable people to competitors who may some day eat Tesla's EV-charging lunch.
I think that eventually Tesla will need to make a decision on how profitable the supercharger network can be and whether or not to keep or sell the business. Currently Elon has a big mess on his hands due to his very large ego.
I am saying that Tesla like IBM has high overhead and needs high margins.
Another example from my early days at IBM. In the 70s I developed mainframe computers. At that time TI was building a big business in calculators. TI’s calculator sold for around $70. IBM ran a task force to see if we could build a better calculator. The answer was yes we could, but with profit requirements we would need to sell it for $500. Of course we ended up by letting TI (Texas Instruments) have that market.
EXACTLY. We were always waiting for new charging locations. Now, that will never be the case.
Thanks Tom for your independent voice. Tesla is trying to find partners for autonomous driving software. Why would any OEM get in bed with them now?
I just finished reading Walter Isaacson's biography on Elon Musk. I believe Elon went into what Isaacson termed as "Demon Mode." Isaacson shadowed Musk for 2 years. He ended the book with Musk can be crazy but he's also crazy enough to think he can change the world.
He’s not done changing the world either, and for some reason that makes people mad. I’m glad Elon is cleaning house here. I’ve never been too one of these hundred plus stall megasites, but I’ve been to dozens of rundown version 2 sites with 25% of the capacity down. Stop building out infrastructure for losers who don’t even want EVs. If any of the legacy OEMs had the power to stop EVs with a snap of a finger they would.
Yeah, just sold a whole bunch of TSLA a few seconds ago. This is crazy. No consideration of the repercussions. Bad Musk decisions for years, prioritizing shiny toys like CyberTruck over more strategic lower price EVs, abandoning mission and strategy for latest flashy interest. But this move is just out there. Tesla looks like it could go out of business in a few years. Past glories don't count for everything.
I sold Tesla last December and bought Toyota.
Great content as always, Tom. PS, time to update that collar shirt my man :)
Why do we need Tesla to continue down the road of transitioning to SAE J3400? The existing charging stations can continue to retrofit and automobile makers can continue making the change to the sleeker connector.
I don’t think this is the death knell for Tesla but I do think it will cause the remaining auto makers who signed on to the NACS connector to rethink that decision and pull out. It’s early enough that they can easily do that since the connector wasn’t supposed to be introduced before the 2025 models in their vehicles.
It’s not the death knell but Musk has once again proven he is not a stable business person, which traditional auto makers do NOT go for
Not a chance NACS is pretty much the chosen standard now. And they don’t need Tesla to change to NACS. Other companies are already deploying non Tesla NACS fast chargers
Now that is an SAE standard they’ll stay with it. New chargers from other networks will have the NACS plug. All this does is give the other networks a huge chance to catch up.
@@doomsday9973I hope so. There are none of those in Oklahoma yet. Tesla only has one site in the whole western half of the state, an old V2, which won’t work with non-Tesla and cannot have Magic Dock, and I guess that situation will not get resolved
@@nothanks960”Catch up” is putting it mildly. EA and Francis need to do a wholesale rip and replace to put new model, working units in all their sites
@@glenngore6609 Elon did say in another Twitter response Tesla would continue to fill “gaps” in the system. Hopefully that holds true
This also may effect Magic Dock conversions
For sure. And v4 S/C rollout. There is no good news in this mass firing.
Tesla throwing away their near monopoly position in charging is a disaster for shareholders as well.
I put a $1000 down on a Tesla Solar roof when they were announced, My roof was going to have to be replaced in a few years and my wife did not like the look of the solar panels available at the time. This was my first exposure to Elon time and the availability was not as he said and years went by and my roof really needed to be replaced so I attempted to contact Tesla to find out when I could expect to get a solar roof but there was no direct way to contact them and inquiries went unanswered. Finally I tweeted Elon (before X) and 2 days later I got a call from Tesla explaining that the Tesla roof was not available except in CA at that time. So maybe that is what the OEMs and utilities who have been stranded by the layoff of most of the Supercharger team need to do, X Elon directly.
Tesla's evolution with Elon Musk's characteristics:
1- Fire everybody that builds out charge stations.
2- Fire everybody that does the maintenance of those stations.
3-Fire everybody who are the liaison with other companies.
Elon's response, no worries Tesla will continue to build out charge stations and maintain them with zero employees in either of those areas.
It's clear Elon is reneging on his plans to allow other EV manufactures use the Supercharger network. With Tesla sales plummeting they are now a real threat. It's also going to screw other EV makers who are switching to their plug design because there are no other EV stations with that plug design that is being used. All EV makers need to take a pause and reconsider if it's a good idea to switch now with Elon's erratic decisions. It's a huge risk to the entire EV industry. At any time it feels like he will change his mind and can block anyone from using the Supercharger network.
You have said, and everyone here has basically said what I wanted to say so I won't repeat anything. I will say this decision definitely influences how I feel about voting for his compensation package regardless of his past track record. What's he has done is NOT what many of the investors wanted him to be doing at this stage or the way the company has handled this downsizing.
Tom, why did you say that the Bolt will have access to superchargerd soon? How do you know that the project is still moving forward after the layoffs?
Why didn’t he just spin off a division?
I bet a lot of very rich people would love to own that network. It could be like owning Standard Oil, only lasting forever. With proper maintenance of a nationwide network, the money would flow in forever. I really can't think of a better investment than that.
Because Tesla is hurting really bad financially and they need to cut costs yesterday. The cuts are going to keep coming badly for the coming months.
Q: Why didn’t he just spin off a division? A: because that's what people who are NORMAL and WELL ADJUSTED do, so this behavior would be 180 degrees opposite of what people who are NEUROTIC and MAL-ADJUSTED do. okay next question.
I love the clickbait-style thumbnail that is actually totally appropriate/accurate.
what's keeping the stock price up?
For me personally, I'll be ok with my Bolt EUV since I've never once used a Magic Dock. But i share all of Tom's concerns with the effect on the industry at large.
Short term, this is bad. But maybe long term if Ionna and others can grab the very talented people who worked on the SC network, we could come out in a better position of not being overly reliant on one company
Elon has to do something to keep the company afloat. I think Tesla is in more trouble than anyone could imagine.
What about Electrify America and EV Go public charging stations? Can't these competitors expand and grab market share?
They can but they suck on reliability, number and location relative to Tesla. This announcement is truly a major blow to the future ease of fast charging reliability and charger availibility going forward, especially when expansion is so needed in the next few years as companies roll out so many hybrid and electirci models.
In the short-term, wouldn't it be best for OEM's to announce they will continue to work with Tesla to open their superchargers to their vehicles when they can, but it will be with an adapter. That works. But they aren't committing to the NACS port in their vehicles until they know the direction Tesla is going with their superchargers.
Will Rivian void warranties using after market adapters?
How does axing the supercharger team help transition the world to sustainable energy?
Q: How does axing the supercharger team help transition the world to sustainable energy? A: it doesn't. right so to truly understand what's going on...? the very FIRST thing you must get the courage to accept, is that his B.S. NARRATIVE about "helping transition the world to sustainable energy" was nothing more than classic WW2 Weimar Republic "Rhetoric and Propaganda"...
yeah once you recognize that you've BEEN LIED TO...? the pieces will begin to come together, and it will all start to make sense. good luck.
@@phillyphil1513 My question was rhetorical lmao, but I do love your thoughts
@@dyeace re: "My question was rhetorical" no worries, most of the questions we phrase "rhetorically" shouldn't be, and require that we "do the work", and just answer them openly and completely...
as we've been witnessing, "rhetoric" breeds confusion and dumbness, which is actually what we need to GET AWAY FROM, particularly in the context of dealing with knuckleheads like Elon.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Musk suddenly felt like opening up NACS was a mistake, and this is his way of backing out?
Better not be. Ford will destroy them. Look at history.
Nah, he could have made billions selling electricity for much more than he is paying the utilities for it. Even if he quit making cars, a series of nationwide fast charges is a money printing machine because the government will eventually ban ICE cars. Whoever owns the fastest, most widely distributed charger network, would just watch the money flow in, year after year. Maintenance would be the only significant expense. You could hire people to maintain geographic areas, like the utilities do with linemen. No paperwork to deal with either, just swipe your card at the charger.
Wait until he discovers that the Chinese are going to steal his self driving technology that he plans to deploy over there. They steal everything, since they know that nobody can do them anything. He is a hot head with poor judgement. He admitted to using ketamine. That is a serious drug.
Lol you guys really put a lot of thought into this
Yes yes yes, I truly believe that is what happened. It wasn't going to benefit tesla at all. While everyone is hating on Tesla they were all getting nacs, I'm sure elon is changing that back and let the other manufacturers deal with their own charging network. In the end this will benefit tesla more.
I was not ok with opening up the charging network, the advantage was gone.
Never any car manufacturer has been selling "special gas" for their brand of cars. Elon Musk finally realized that's what he was doing with his superchargers, while at the same time seing all cars could end up using the same type of gas at competing gas stations.
Really appreciate your insight. Thank you for all you do.
I suspect that the German manufacturers and likely the Koreans may well pull out of the NACS agreement. The issue is, as you mentioned, V4 is likely not coming anywhere soon -- so any car that needs 800V charging can't "fast" charge on Tesla's network. I know the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis cars that have 800V archetecture can only charge at about 90 kW on Tesla's superchargers (currently only on those with Magic Docks). I think the lack of any v4 NACS, and loss of leadership in "fixing" NACS, my end the agreement for everyone to move to NACS -- I strongly suspect that CCS1 will return as the North American standard.
Elon appears to be doing to Tesla what he did to X - he's going to implode it over the next year. VERY interesting times to come...
Elon lost his compensation package, so now he is taking his ball and going home. Morale is low at tesla right now and the man at the helm has lost it
I agree with you Tom. As a long time Tesla owner my concern mostly is that with the opening of the network to ford, gm, rivian and sites not set up for those vehicles Tesla owners will be the most effect with iced stalls and overcrowding at charger locations..
I am glad I never had to worry about finding a Tesla charger. The other ones out there are fine in my world
If someone did something like this back in my day, we'd commonly ask *"Is that boy on drugs or something?"* With Musk, it's already a well-known documented fact/foregone conclusion that he's a serious heavy drug/pharmacuetical user so.... you get what you pay for when you buy things from drug addicts. Sometimes a great deal, sometimes not so great.
re: "Is that boy on drugs or something?" "ELON IS HIGH ON PCP...!!!" (best high pitched/Dave Chapelle/Comedy voice)
I don’t want to come across as negative, but when I purchased my first EV, Tesla wasn’t even on my radar primarily due to Musk. Apart from his political controversies, he's known for being unpredictable. He is an unstable genius. How many instances have there been where he's let down Tesla owners? Those $80K Tesla’s are now valued at less than $30K. Cyber Truck's being released without all the promised features is another example. Musk undeniably has ingenious ideas, but his erratic nature often leads to sudden shifts in direction, affecting others. His recent interference with firing the Charging Department has negatively impacted numerous businesses and owners. While many see him as a visionary, for those considering a Tesla, it's wise to proceed with caution.
I'm currently doing my fifth ATL-Troy NY -ATL trip in my id4. I use EA and EVGo and I have never been stranded. I had to wait to plug in twice.
So let me get this right:
1) Out of the $70,000 I paid cash for my 2022 Tesla Model Y LR with FSD
probably 5% or $3,500 went to join the "Supercharger Club"
like I did way back in the VCR days when I had to pay $200 to join the "VCR club" at Hollywood Video stores
2) Then the Boy Wonder decides that anyone can use his SuperChargers (That I paid for and was not compensated for), clogging up the lines and wearing down the equipment faster adding to Charging Anxiety. They don't have to pay a penny upfront for building the stations, just a few pennies more per KwH.
BEV sales are declining because of "Range and Charging" anxiety that even I feel once in a while.
Hybrids have none of these problems.
3) The Supercharger division at Tesla convinced folks worldwide to use their plugs at their Superchargers - something hard to do.
4) Now the Boy Wonder decides to fire the ENTIRE Supercharger division for some reason.
Is this a good thing for TSLA?
Somebody tell me how any of this makes sense to someone not smoking a bong?
You've got point 3 wrong. This is only a US and North American issue. In Europe, Tesla has to use CCS2 on their cars.
Everyone eventually gets MUSKED. Welcome to the club, I got Musked years ago and dumped both my Teslas. I saw through his BS a long time ago.