Tesla has reached agreements with other manufacturers so that electric car owners can charge their cars at its extensive Supercharger network. Now the company's efforts to expand its network of charging stations are in jeopardy.
The layoff of about 500 employees from the Supercharger team, which was announced the day before, raised questions about the deals that Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, made with General Motors, Ford Motor and other automakers last year. These agreements allowed cars made by other companies to use the Supercharger network, which is the largest and most reliable in the United States.
In the past, almost all major manufacturers have announced plans to change the hardware and software of their cars to be compatible with Tesla chargers. Ford, for example, is sending out adapters to owners of its older electric cars so they can connect to Tesla chargers.
The new round of layoffs came as a surprise to many Tesla employees and industry representatives. Laid-off Tesla workers have publicly voiced their concerns about the future of the Supercharger.
“Our entire charging team has been fired. What that means for the charger network, (the North American charging standard developed by Tesla) NACS and all the exciting work we've been doing in the industry, I don't know yet.”– wrote on Twitter by William Navarro Jameson, Tesla's senior manager of charging operations.
Against this background, Musk said that Tesla will slow down the construction of new charging stations, but will continue to develop the network.
“Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, but slower for new locations and more focused on 100% uptime and expanding existing locations”– wrote he is on his Twitter page.