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Tesla Supercharger Layoffs Throw Industry NACS Shift Into Turmoil

Elon Musk has laid off senior management and hundreds of workers in Tesla’s Supercharger division.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

April 30, 2024

3 Min Read
Charging at a Supercharger station.
Charging at a Supercharger station.Tesla

At a Glance

  • Top Supercharger network executives laid off
  • Hundreds of Supercharger network employees also let go

Tesla’s unpredictable boss, Elon Musk, laid off hundreds of employees on the company’s Supercharger EV charging network team. With his trademark grace, employees were notified by a late-night email from Musk.

This comes after Tesla’s charging network standard, the North American Charging System (NACS), has become the de facto charging standard for U.S. EVs for carmakers who were tired of the unreliable existing networks and the cumbersome SAE Combined Charging System (CCS) charge plug.

The news was first reported by TheInformation.com, which said that Musk emailed Tesla’s senior director of the Supercharger group, Rebecca Tinucci, and the head of new products, Daniel Ho, informing them that they would leave the company in the morning. TheInformation also reported that in the email, Musk said that Tesla “will continue to build out some new Supercharger locations, where critical, and finish those currently under construction.”

This seems like a significant curtailment of Tesla’s previously ambitious network growth plans. “What this means for the charging network, NACS, and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I don't yet know,” wrote laid-off employee Will Jameson on Twitter, or X. “What a wild ride it has been.”

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The Supercharger network had significant momentum, as carmakers rushed to switch to the Tesla plug design so that their customers could use Tesla’s charging network, which has been significantly more reliable than other public charging networks.

Related:Tesla in Transition Amidst Layoffs, Exec Exits

“To be honest, I have no idea what he’s thinking,” remarked Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst for transportation and mobility at Guidehouse Insights. “This seems like exactly the wrong time to make this move as the network is being opened up to other OEMs,” he said.

It isn’t only other carmakers who’ve gotten on board. The SAE has established a new charging standard, J3400, which is based on Tesla’s NACS design. Now those plans are exposed to the hazards of Musk’s whims.

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“Ever since Ford announced its deal with Tesla and started the NACS/J3400 ball rolling, I’ve been saying that there was no guarantee that Tesla would be able to maintain its high reliability levels when it had to make sure Superchargers worked with every car,” said Abuelsamid.

“Firing the Supercharger team just as they are starting to get NEVI [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure law] funding for new stations and other OEMs are waiting to connect seems foolish and short-sighted, but that’s not new for Elon,” he concluded.

A potential silver lining for those carmakers is the availability of the hundreds of freshly laid-off Supercharger employees who know how to build and operate a reliable charging network.

Related:Tesla NACS Charging Gains Support

Additionally, the J3400 charging standard is in place, creating the potential for other carmakers, charging network operators, and EV charger manufacturers to take Tesla’s place in advancing the technology.

“The J3400 standard goes beyond just the NACS connector,” Abuelsamid noted. “It offers a number of other updates such as support for 277V AC charging (a single phase of a 3 phase 480V circuit) which will enable much easier curbside charging from utility poles and lights.”

The superiority of this standard ensures the demise of the old SAE CCS standard, he added. “No one is going back to CCS1. The J3400 connector is easier to use and most of the CPOs [Charge Point Operators] are going to retrofit chargers over the next year or so.”

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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