Tesla Lays Off Entire Supercharger Team [Update: Musk says supercharger growth will continue] ** WARNING: NO POLITICS***

[Blue highway]

Whatever else he is, Musk is at his core a startup CEO. He makes decisions and moves decisively. He freely slays sacred cows. Those things are often necessary at a scrappy upstart that has a razor thin path to success. The startups that make all of the right choices survive, and the ones that don't, don't. See: Fisker Automotive (the one that went in 2013, not the one that's going bankrupt later this year), Aptera Motors (same story - liquidated in 2011, then reformed) Nikola Motors (technically not dead yet, but...... yeah), and if we're honest, probably eventually every US EV startup besides Tesla and Rivian.

Tesla is no longer such a startup. You can't act like that when you have a scaled enterprise with complex systems in-place. At that point, the sacred cows you're slaying are your own.

I have no doubt the supercharger group needed change. The V4 supercharger rollout has been a disaster. Cybertruck, despite being several years delayed, launched months ago. There isn't a single supercharger capable of charging it at its native voltage. The few "V4" superchargers that are installed are just the new dispensers with V3 cabinets. Tesla has to be embaressed that their shiny new trophy charges faster at Electrify America, but that doesn't mean you burn it all down. Poorly performing teams that have performed well in the past (superchargers are still BY FAR the best charging network) usually just need new leadership and a targeted trimming of dead weight.

uh huh... you change direction by changing leadership. That has nothing to do with what just happened. When you fire an entire division of worker bees it's nothing more thought through than a temper tantrum.

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[GreaseMonkey]

Outdated? You seen any cybbertruck reviews? I've seen a number of them where panel alignment was borderline criminal.

Cybertruck is a joke. No one cares about that. You need to be objective about the products that make a difference. Repeating tired jokes that have no semblance to reality doesn’t help anyone. Let’s be factual and fair.

 

[LincolnLuvr]

uh huh... you change direction by changing leadership. That has nothing to do with what just happened. When you fire an entire division of worker bees it's nothing more thought through than a temper tantrum.

Agreed. If he's trying to save costs by terminating employees en-masse, then he should start at the top and forego some or all of his $56 BILLION pay compensation package. $56 billion is ludicrous. He certainly doesn't need the money and it would have been a good look for him.

 

[Alutacon]

Cybertruck is a joke. No one cares about that. You need to be objective about the products that make a difference. Repeating tired jokes that have no semblance to reality doesn’t help anyone. Let’s be factual and fair.

Lol, what.

Him: low quality car issue is outdated

Me: what about those brand new junk trucks they're rolling out

Him: those don't count

 

[GreaseMonkey]

Lol, what.

Him: low quality car issue is outdated

Me: what about those brand new junk trucks they're rolling out

Him: those don't count

Well, the model y is the best selling car in the world. You can LOL until you’re blue in the face. Nothing will change that fact. But keep it up, you’re doing fine.

 

[MacherAWD]

Well, the model y is the best selling car in the world. You can LOL until you’re blue in the face. Nothing will change that fact. But keep it up, you’re doing fine.

The McDonalds burger is the best selling burger in the world.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

The McDonalds burger is the best selling burger in the world.

The owner of your neighborhood burger joint would give their left nut to be a McDonald’s franchisee.

 

[MacherAWD]

The owner of your neighborhood burger joint would give their left nut to be a McDonald’s franchisee.

But as a consumer I am going to Lexie's over McDs. Its why I drive a MME not a MY. You can have your big mac

 

[RickMachE]

Agreed. If he's trying to save costs by terminating employees en-masse, then he should start at the top and forego some or all of his $56 BILLION pay compensation package. $56 billion is ludicrous. He certainly doesn't need the money and it would have been a good look for him.

If one wants to better understand Musk, you need to know WHY he wants that much. He wants to grow Tesla to be a leader in AI and robotics, and needs 25% voting control in the company to be influential in the decisions he says. Otherwise, he says he will do that outside Tesla.

He used to own more than 20%, now owns about 13%. He reduced his holdings to fund his Twitter folly.

Building a humanoid robot is the most important technology that Tesla is developing in his mind.

He doesn't want institutional investors (Fidelity, Blackrock) to gang up and overrule him.

He also wants the $56B because his entire goal across everything is to colonize Mars.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

But as a consumer I am going to Lexie's over McDs. Its why I drive a MME not a MY. You can have your big mac

You and I represent a minority. We bought the Mach-E for a reason. Bashing the choice that a majority made is counterproductive.

 

[CarlSagan82]

If Musk’s only real goal is colonizing Mars he didn’t need to pay 44 billion for Twitter so he can unban Trump and Nick Fuentes. He makes lots of stupid decisions. Something you can afford to do when you are born with crazy wealth.

That doesn’t mean this decision is stupid. But why does he get a free pass because he has money?

 

[Logal727]

He believes in free speech. I know, horrible.

Mike Mike Mike

 

[music_cities]

The challenge of course remains volume. If several users hit the charger then it can not charge at the high rate and can no longer provide any back-up power. If sized large enough for both then costs begin to become prohibitive.

Yes, relying on a battery to reduce peak demand charges and reducing install costs only really makes sense for low-volume locations. I mean some battery backup for high volume locations could make sense to give the first person to arrive a little speed boost in their charging, but if a location expects back-to-back charging sessions on a regular basis better to just size the service appropriately.

 

[kltye]

Demand charges are not an issue if usage goes up. As a matter of fact if usage goes over 70% a demand charge results in a lower cost of power. People like to hammer on demand charges but rates are regulated and are based on a cost-causer cost-payer basis. A battery seems like a good solution but only for a low volume area. It can not provide continuous high current charging. So if there is very much back to back use the amps will drop and you will have slow charging complaints.

You keep mentioning that demand charges aren't a big deal, but I've talked to several operators and power company reps, and they seem to disagree. Also: https://electrek.co/2020/09/17/tesla-batteries-60-electrify-america-charging-stations/

Seems counterproductive for EA to be building that many sites with "low utilization", since they already have issues lighting up sites that would be popular (see: Green Bay and Milwaukee locations in Wisconsin).

Your point about back to back usage is for sites that are power limited, like sites using Freewire's Boost product. Battery backup for peak shaving is a totally different use case.

 

[ChehRob]

Unless it is demonstrated with numbers, I continue to suspect that Level 3 chargers will be a minimal/no profit division. If true, I could see the automobile industry forming a not-for- profit to take over most charging stations. Whether just maintaining and managing payment (why not just go credit card?), or buying or installing it could be pretty straight forward.

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