What’s Going on With Tesla Superchargers? 

Tech RU-vidrs love to talk about right to repair. With the exception of Tesla.

I manage a shopping center on the west coast, we had been approached by Tesla's charging division and had JUST begun the process of bringing in Tesla Chargers maybe a month ago. Hadn't heard an update in awhile so we checked in last week only to find out this news and the whole project was dead. RIP.

Feels like classic Elon seagull management. Fly in, make a lot of noise, crap all over everything, then leave.

This is what happens when you put that much faith in a guy who has done nothing but show disdain for employees his entire life.

This could really slow EV sales among majority-adopters. It just reinforces the feeling that this isn't really ready for prime-time.

I get companies gamble, it feels like Tesla is making some pretty dumb ones. It's also a bad message for the employees that do stay on the company.

The fact of firing everyone in that division was out of spite. Elon sent them all a note to reduce their dept, she didn't, so he fired everyone to prove a point imo.

How are they gonna focus on uptime and expanding existing locations if there's no more staff for that division?

It's capital preservation. However, the challenge of replacing essential staff will prove arduous. Once employees recognize they're not valued as integral parts of the company but rather as easily replaceable or disposable, trust in management and loyalty will decline irreversibly. While C-suite might believe they have and know the big picture, it's the worker bees who are fundamentally responsible for a company's success. There is nothing worse than having inept or egotistical managers running a company.

I could never imagine working for a company that Elon Musk owns. All he has shown is how everyone at his companies are expendable. Why would anyone with a family, career or goals ever want to work for him?

anyone that thinks a 3rd party will pick up the slack has no clue how a gas station actually make money.

At a time when EV sales are slowing down and lots are filling with Teslas, including the Cyber Truck, to stop growing the charging station network seems to me to be not only counter intuitive, but destructive to EV's on the whole. From what I've seen, the major problem in selling EV's is the anxiety of not being able to reach the next charger in time. This is about Elon's money and stock prices rather than Elon's decades 'dedication' to moving away from ICE...

yes, more stalls, but many of those locations will require electrical feeder upgrades by the utility companies. time & money

5 supercharger stations in Houston have had most of their charging cable cut. 33 stations at the Taylor st. Supercharger station, about 20 cords were cut.

“I felt a great disturbance …, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”

Current Tesla owner here,,,there are lots of things that I like about the car,,,but there are many things that I don’t like about the company. Anytime one person can layoff indiscriminately or lower prices at will or a total lack of customer support and not care about it,,,is in my opinion going to loose consumer confidence in their product. I have several friends that own Tesla(s) however 6 out of the 7 of us have all said that we would not consider another Tesla in the future but are seriously looking at some of the legacy car companies EV’s eg Audi, Volkswagen and even KIA/Hyundai etc. Time will tell how Tesla stock does in the immediate future.

As someone who works in utility reviewing the usage demands and how it impacts our existing power infrastructure: the costs it requires to handle these loads CAN be very large. They take up such a small footprint as well. This may be disuading Tesla from plopping these huge load demand chargers all over.

Marques is too much of a STAN for Tesla and Elon, that he will not see the fall coming.

2:56 Claiming the amount of cars using Tesla chargers will be 5X is wildly overstating the ratios. Tesla sold 55% of the total EVs sold in the US in 2023. They had TWO models that sold more than 220,000 vehicles each, and no other maker had a model that even sold 65,000. So if every other car buyer began using the Tesla network, it would not even double the load, nowhere near 5X.

their charging ecosystem is the biggest advantage tesla has and they do this?! crazy if you ask me

why does one need a big company to add additional superchargers to the network? can't individual private companies build a charging station? (e.g. buy the chargers from tesla, use land that they already own, add a few parking spots) and charge through apple pay? add a coffee shop for additional revenue. basically the same business model as gas stations have?

Elon thinks Tesla can be an AI exclusive company. When he can stop selling cars retail, he will. That said, he’ll never get there and this could be the beginning of the end of Tesla.

I don't know about you guys but I never considered installing a gas pump at my home. I now have 3 Tesla charging 90% at home. For me BEV's only make good sense if you have home charging.

I really thought that by opening the network they would double down on making it bigger to get the money from non Tesla owners charging their cars. Seems like a weird move

Something like 70% of the EVs in the US are Teslas. So allowing all non Teslas to charge at the Tesla supercharger network wouldn't increase supercharger usage by 50%. Let alone 5X.

I believe this was a pure cost play. However, word is filtering out that Tesla is driving partnership with major charging providers, giving them access to NACS IP and more importantly, access to seamless transponder based billing through Tesla network from 3rd party chargers. I think you will see these charging providers take off growth wise.

So there was a news article published. I don't know the name of the head of the supercharging division, however elon told all very high level managers to cut down 10% of their workforce. This guy didn't want to do it, he fired him first (even before the layoffs) then did lay off of his whole team, just out of spite to maybe send a message to other high level managers. (Not sure if true, but seems more likely) Reason being Tesla will actually be at a loss by not building more supercharging locations and seamlessly integrating the other manufacturers. As they were charging about 30% extra for other evs, and this could have been their monopoly in the ev charging infrastructure in US, as well as V4 chargers were just about to be launched at a larger scale, as of now V4 only functions as V3 with longer cables. So the investment part, R&D was already done, so it makes less sense to fire the whole team for making the perfect system, as the system is great, but had a lot of changes anticipated this year and next. Or elon might want to kill off any future investment in V4, if the costs have been crazy till this point. And uptime was already over 99% so that's a ridiculous argument that we'll focus on uptime, and not new stations. There was nothing wrong with uptime.

Shell gas stations are adding in their own charging stations at all their existing locations, if the location can't be adopting, they find a new location near by that can. With always on site staff to monitor the reliability of them, that will be compation to Tesla.

Firing 500 people for building the best charging network seems like a Twitter v2. There will be an enormous amount of money to be made in charging EVs in the future, probably more than vehicle manufacturing, so unless Tesla is in serious financial trouble and can't afford to build more, it seems like he's just killed a golden goose.

Maybe Tesla might start licencing and outsourcing their supercharging network expansion.

What's the track name at the end

uptime needs work in the sense that a lot of the stations have at least one charger that isn't working

I think Tesla/Elon is assuming that 3rd party networks will "pick up the slack" since they are all moving to the Tesla port. So there will be more chargers added to the network without Tesla having to spend more money (the charger team).

There is a supercharger built in Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia and it's sitting there for 6months just not opened yet. No idea what's happening and I cannot find information on it. I would really need that supercharger, so i could always travel on superchargers and not need an ionity subscription anymore.

Could the Network be up for sale?

Most news coverage think that the current network will now suck because they fires the supercharger team. I do not think this will be the case at all. The team was fired since the network has achieved very good coverage and very good reliability. Additionally, faster and better chargers is not the key to future EVs, it's battery tech! Superchargers are plenty powerful enough its the battery charge speed that lags at this moment and will for the next 5-10 years.

Car manufacturers didnt build the roads, or the gas stations. For a manufactuer to build a charging network is unusual. Theyve had to build it to sell vehicles, im guessing at a loss, now its time for other companies to come in and create thier own buisness model using that blueprint. Feels like a standard move.

I’ve had an electric car since 2017 and only used a supercharger probably no more than 10-20 times. Admittedly, the mileage on my 2013 Nissan leaf is like ~70 miles, so I can’t really drive it out of town or on long trips, but it’s been fully functional and fine not having a supercharger. The mental obstacles and hurdles people have to range anxiety are far greater than what they are in actuality.

Marques, how are clubs from TXG doing for you these days? I really enjoyed watching your fitting with Ian. Cheers!!

My supercharger location has broken clips for half the chargers. The cables are always lying on the ground now. :/

Apparently Musk wanted large cuts to be made in every department, but the head of the super charger network refused to lay off enough people to make Musk happy, so as vengeance he decided to fire everyone.

Tesla opening the charging standard NACS allows to have much more competition, and the government funding charging infrastructure motivates other companies to install NACS chargers. BP, Exxon, 76, etc. already own the gas stations on the highways with the land, power, permits, bathrooms, markets and coffee, just add chargers. Plus supermarkets, malls, 7-11 can also add NACS chargers. Elon saw that this will be harder to deal with and Tesla already have more than enough changers, maybe even the government told them to stop to allow others to get into the market. Tesla could become a charger provider service, sell the chargers, and help them install their chargers and make them all compatible.

You don't need to completely overwrite the Tesla network, you only need to fill in the gaps. Since everyone's on the same standard now, new companies can come along and just fill in places that are under-served by Tesla's current network, and also expand alternative sites to Teslas in the same areas, so that if the Tesla ones are down or crowded, there is at least a plan B. There are often a half dozen or more gas stations within a mile of each other, and those take less time to use, so "more stations" will never hurt. I think the real market is expanding access in parking garages and street access.

Just fyi, many other players are building out chargers since everyone is using the NACS plug and they are going to turn into a distribution of chargers and allow others to do the build out of locations

site maintenance is remaining

Tesla’s Supercharger Network is as critical to their success as the Apple Ecosystem is to Apple. It is a major factor in product purchases and gives people a feeling of confidence found in few other places. Firing the Supercharger Staff is a remarkably stupid move and proves it is time to dispense with Musk. He should be fired and on the same day the Supercharger Network people rehired. Very negligent for the Board of Directors to permit this. Maybe they should go as well. There will be shareholder lawsuits out of this.

You'll be able to option the Wallbox Supernova 180 with NACS connectors in North America later this year. We already have over 2000 Supernovas deployed worldwide with a 98% up rate!

With the opening of Tesla Superchargers to "randos," then "uptime" is likely to take a huge crap soon. People are going to be breaking those things left and right.

Theres literally a new super charger hub being built near my house. It's been unfinished for like 2 months. I assume this is a contributing reason why..

The power needs for multiple DC fast chargers is insane. This is a HUGE problem with companies installing DC chargers (hell, even level 2 chargers). There is often times not enough electrical infrastructure in an area (not just the building) to feed multiple DC fast chargers. You are talking about needing several MEGA watts of power. Often time there is simply not that much electrical overhead availability in the area without huge infrastructure investments.

They have an initial $100m order from BP and goodness knows how many behind that. They will build the V4 Superchargers and roll them out under different brands, each taking care of the local government permitting and dealing with the utility company. In the mean time they need to roll out the V4 with the longer cable to all their existing locations. You've already seen the videos of cars from other manufacturers parked across multiple bays because the cable is so short on the older Supercharger versions. Replacing every single SC in every single stall of over 50,000 Superchargers they have is a lot of time and money. The benefit of doing this is that the new Superchargers can charge more than twice as quickly so cars will spend half as much time there, the equivalent of doubling capacity in busy locations without spending any more money on real estate. I don't know the exact role of the Supercharging team, whether it was R&D or more concentrated on roll-out logistics, so not sure if it's a loss or not. Phillip.

They were building a supercharger setup in my small town and construction appears to have stopped.

Yeah is anyone gonna call Elon out or no?

So many lost their jobs while Elon gives himself a 55 billion bonus, what a piece of work

My understanding is that mainly the Marketing, R&D was laid off, which means, Tesla is not going to spend a lot of money in designing new Supercharger. I don't think it will effect the way existing superchargers are maintained or even new location are build. But there seems to be bno need for marketing superchargers anymore.

Because Ford should also provide the gas, tankers, gas stations etc...

It really is a shame that the media isn’t getting it right that not all of the team was let go. Actuate reporting is highly important.

We have a Tesla Supercharger here in my hometown, and I never see anyone using it. And I drive by this thing a couple of times a week...

Everyone focuses on the plug type, but that’s not the issue. My Rivian connects instantly and charges quickly on the Adventure network. Having EVGo or EA switch their plugs isn’t going to fix compatibility issues with different charger brands and vehicle makes and models.

More stand alone Tesla charger with canopy with solar panels and battery storage not connected to the grid. Less permitting and quicker time to install such set up. Have all units pre made and ready to drop off and use. Use a standard plan that the city would approve without a permit. In Calif people are allowed to build a storage shed 10 ft x 10 ft without a permit. Make the set up simple so little permitting is required

Not considered is how this effects other countries. Tesla is finally getting a foothold in Australia. Now the sc network growth has been shut down it will inevitably stall Ev growth. It is from an Australians perspective a pretty dumb move.

I work at a CDJR dealership, we have a $65,000 level 3 charger that PPl can’t supply enough power for us to install it. We’ve had it for almost a year and they can’t even do the feasibility study until the end of 2025…this is why a Supercharger team is no longer necessary. Power companies are not going to spend tens of millions of dollars for the relatively small number of EVs that will need to be charged in the wild for the foreseeable future.

What's is uptime exactly?

Might transition to a franchise model for the chargers

This definitely wouldn't have happened if they didn't scrap his bonuses

Tesla shouldn’t be the supporting backbone of EV conversion in the US. All those other EV charging companies need to do better. This will have to be the push.

Also didnt tesla also just release a supercharger V4? So maybe in-place upgrades at most locations?

No reason to compare the supercharger network to gas stations. If you do, you would have to include literally every power outlet in any garage because EVs can charge on any outlet while you don’t typically have a gas station at home.

Now there are 500 employees that other companies can scoop up to make their charger network better.

We're focusing more on maintenance and uptime"..... With the team you now don't have????

What we need are standardized hot swappable batteries with automated swapping possibilities being added in gas stations. Since we f‘d up the start it will be another 10-20 years I guess.

Q: What’s Going on With Tesla Superchargers? *A: Basic laws of economics. And physics, lots of physics.*

There have been a lot of speculations on these lay-offs, but apparently contrary to what almost every one reported, not all the team has been laid off, it’s mainly most of the R&D and Sales part of the Superchargeurs team, the installation and maintenance team haven’t been much impacted. This looks like they are slowing done on new research, the V4 being already able to support higher charging power intensity, and don’t really need the sales team anymore as almost everyone have already been convinced by the previous sales team to adopt NACS. When new needs will require a new team, they’ll certainly hire again. It looks like that Elon Musk is considering the human members of his companies just as any resource and so adjust their number as often as possible when context allows to reduce them or need to increase them.

We don’t need as much superchargers as gas stations because most ev owners charge at home and I don’t know anyone with a gas station at home.

There is another chain of thought. CATLs new battery and the huge advantages in battery technology that seem to get better every day it could just be a case that soon the ranges obtainable will make charging on the go a lot less necessary !

Glad there's a video podcast of this, because if it were audio only I wouldn't know who's talking, everyone sounds the same.

I believe TESLA is going to outsource the charging network to other companies and it has already started to do this with BP and a company in Europe. The best explanation I've heard is that supercharging has become a Cost centre and is no longer strategic.

DOJ probe on Tesla regarding autopilot. Sales falling off a cliff (-18% China, -20% Europe). Elon busy on Twitter. A perfect storm.

It’s been more than a century that gas vehicles are here, do you rly expect that supercharges overcome gas stations in less than 20 years?

So... question. It's been about two weeks since this video and longer I assume about this news. In this day and age of high copper theft, how many of these charging stations are still operational?

Don't you think they're just going to license the technology and franchise it?

I wonder if the "Pulling back from EVs" attitude by numerous companies who said "were all in" 10 months ago had anything to do with it? . If Tesla was ramping based on the promise of new customers, then suddenly a large nunber declarr they're not coming.... Elon Musk checks the data (on the way back from a meeting where there's no B.S) and figures out in 2 minutes that There are enough superchargers for the existing Tesla fleet. . That V2 to V3 or V4 upgrades plus completion of sites under construction and filling gaps in the network will mean that is true for some time. . Then he notes that building at the previous rate would mean the network had too many chargers, making it unprofitable..... . Do you think the next questions might be "Why didn't management figure this out?" Then (if they did) "Why didn't they tell me?" . Perspective?

I think it's a dumb move. With a slow down of superchargers network growth and an increase of EV adoption and people actually hopping on the only decent charging network, the wait times at superchargers is going to skyrocket. Even with all these existing or new charging networks picking up the slack, it's going to take time to build the momentum needed to catch up to demand, and by that point congestion at charging stations will be ridiculous.... But I guess that's one way to increase the prices charged. Corporate greed strikes again.

how does this effect tesla owners world wide.....Europe was desperate for more tesla chargers.....if that basic first wave of charge stations in France germany uk etc is stopped.....why would anyone risk buying a tesla vehicle outside of US? hows that going to help sales elon?

The writing is on the wall

Another Elon drunk/stoned/tweaked/alternate-universe moment.

I wonder if this has to do with low remaining power capacity from local power utilities… between EVs and Data Centers, metro areas are quickly running out of juice.

Other charger companies don't need to compete with Tesla, they can just fill in the gaps along routes where needed since Tesla won't be doing that anytime soon.

not sure Rivian will be hiring any of those people when they’re losing $38,000 on each vehicle sold

Genuinely baffled how US does not have one standard EV charging port and that a company like Tesla is even allowed to own a proprietary port that is becoming widely accepted, but not ratified as standard. Edit: If I were to guess the plan would be to get third parties to take over the slack of creating new charging stations, then Tesla will charge a whopping licensing fee per charger installed that uses their proprietary port.

Maybe they tried to do a secondary stock offering and got denied by Wallstreet.

What a true leader. Must be fun working for a company like that.

Would you stop saying "Elon" as if he were a family member or close buddy? At best he is a guy who is the CEO of a company. At worst he is something else.

Not much thought for those who lost their jobs on the podcast or here in the comments 😢

I’d say, if they are sharing the infrastructure with other cars, Tesla would be wishing to share the price of maintaining it and reaching deals with other car brands. Moreover, expanding it, since their stations are for now common, as before, they might want to negotiate a collective development. Just saying. Before they only had one choice, now the market requires it and they don’t need to take care of it or even grow it by themselves. They can invest these savings into developing new cars or more useful infrastructure to consolidate them. But I have no idea, it’s just a thought.

5:20 the rivian owner was at a V2 supercharger that didn't support Rivian, sooo he was out of bounds, but calling the cops is dumb

Elon slashed the entire Supercharger team because the team lead, Rebecca Tinucci, dared to stand up to him when Musk asked for cuts. It's pure vindictiveness, and to set an example to his other underlings. This is Elon's way of running businesses: he has no long term plan; he only acts based on how he feels that day.

Was it RAnd D or protection? Because maybe they are as good as they can get.

I'm going to assume future adjustments to NACS will ultimately be decided on by a collective of the industry and government? It would make sense Tesla wants to step back. Though so abrupt it does seems odd.

So if the team is gone how are they going to manage the sites? If they contract it out how will they maintain the standards