Elon Musk has upended a deal the White House saluted early last year to open Tesla Inc.’s electric-vehicle chargers to other automakers, dealing a blow to President Biden’s EV agenda.
Musk decided in the last week to eliminate almost the entire Supercharger team at Tesla, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. The CEO hasn’t publicly confirmed the move or offered a rationale, but has said the company will slow the expansion of its charging network.
In addition to potentially compromising budding partnerships with other carmakers looking to tap Tesla’s chargers, another consequence of Musk’s move may be undercutting Biden’s EV push in the midst of his reelection campaign. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked electric cars on the campaign trail and predicted a “bloodbath” for the auto industry if he isn’t elected.
Advertisement
The layoffs have left automakers including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., and Rivian Automotive Inc. in the lurch at a critical juncture — their customers were only just starting to get wider access to Tesla’s plugs in the last few months.
The culling of Tesla’s roughly 500-person Supercharger team throws into question whether the Biden administration will reach its goal to build a nationwide network of half a million EV chargers. Among the personnel dismissed was Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of EV charging and one of its highest-ranking female executives. She played a leading role in forming outside partnerships.
The electric-vehicle maker has been slashing jobs across the organization, targeting a staff reduction of about 20 percent, Bloomberg reported last month. Some of Musk’s top lieutenants have also resigned in the past few weeks, including senior vice president Drew Baglino, one of only four named Tesla officers.
In addition, Tesla’s top human resources executive, Allie Arebalo, is no longer with the company as of this week, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private personnel information. It’s not clear whether the HR executive, who reported directly to Musk, was let go as part of broader job cuts across Tesla or if she stepped down.
Advertisement
Also, Tesla Inc. is rescinding internship offers just weeks before they were set to start, prompting aspiring employees to take to LinkedIn to appeal to other employers to take them in.
Revoking summer intern offers isn’t likely to save Tesla much money. At least one of the posts was for an unpaid position, while paid internships at the automaker typically offer $18 to $28 an hour, according to data from Glassdoor.
But the decisions will have an impact in the company’s hiring pipeline: More than 3,000 university and community college students from around the world are hired for Tesla internships each year, according to the company’s last Impact Report. “Perform meaningful work from day one,” reads the company’s intern website.