Automotive DECODED
Previous edition: 15 May 2024
Share article
Get the full version straight to your inbox.
Exclusive access to our best-in-class data & intelligence
Subscribe now
Musk hires back Supercharger people - report
Tesla reportedly has begun hiring back some of the almost 500 members of its Supercharging team chief executive officer Elon Musk dismissed late last month.
According to Bloomberg sources, chief among the personnel who had returned was Max de Zegher, the director of charging for North America. De Zegher was one of the top managers after Rebecca Tinucci, the senior director Musk fired late last month along with virtually everyone else in the charging group.
The report said it wasn’t immediately clear how many laid off workers had been rehired. Musk and de Zegher didn’t respond to Bloomberg messages seeking comment.
Bloomberg noted Musk’s dissolution of the team had stunned the broader electric vehicle sector, as Superchargers arguably had been Tesla’s shrewdest product. In the past year, the company convinced competitors to embrace its plugs as an industry standard and signed agreements with many of the world’s biggest manufacturers to open its network to their customers.
After widespread blowback, Musk pledged last week to spend “well over” $500 million on growing Tesla’s network this year. Days earlier, the CEO had said the company planned to add chargers at a slower pace and focus more on uptime and existing locations.
Bloomberg noted the @TeslaCharging account on X followed up Musk on 10 May with a post thanking charging site hosts and suppliers for their patience with the company amid its internal restructuring. De Zegher had reposted the message.
The report noted Musk had walked back impulsive cost cutting measures before. In 2019, he announced Tesla was going to close most of its stores and shift sales online, blindsiding much of his sales team. Ten days later, after landlords refused to let the company out of its leases, the CEO backtracked and raised vehicle prices.
A similar situation played out at Twitter in late 2022: Soon after Musk laid off roughly half the company, dozens of employees were asked to return, Bloomberg added.
The report said Tesla unveiled its first Superchargers in September 2012, shortly after the carmaker started producing the Model S sedan. The company now had more than 6,200 stations and 57,000 connectors worldwide.
Latest news
VinFast pushing hard to grow global sales
VinFast focusing on Asia’s emerging battery electric vehicle (BEV) markets
US hikes tariffs on Chinese BEVs
The US government confirmed earlier media reports it was raising import tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicles (BEVs), semiconductors, solar cells, steel and other sensitive technology to protect its local industries from what it saw as unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Renault/WeRide autonomous vehicle collaboration to be demonstrated
Renault Group is working with with WeRide, an autonomous driving tech specialist, on an autonomous bus that is scheduled for a first demonstration in real conditions from May 26th at the Roland-Garros 2024 tennis tournament.
Conti develops cross domain HPC
Continental said it had developed a cross domain High Performance Computer (HPC) in a car.
Indonesian sales drop 17% in April
New vehicle sales in Indonesia fell 17% to 48,637 units in April 2024 from 58,911 units a year earlier, according to member wholesale data compiled by local automotive industry association Gaikindo.
Fed EX trials electric Merc tractor
FedEx Express has begun a two week pilot of an electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 300 tractor, used in place of a combustion engine tractor and trailer combination, to fulfil domestic linehaul operations from Eindhoven station in the Netherlands.
Yazaki making connectors from recycled resin
Yazaki Corporation and Toray Industries have jointly developed a recycled polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resin grade which uses scrap materials from manufacturing processes to make connectors for automotive wire harnesses.
Volvo Cars backed UK start-up appoints new CFO
UK start-up Breathe Battery Technologies (Breathe) has appointed Laurent Cordonnier into the role of Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately.
In our previous edition
Automotive Decoded
Lightstate CEO: “We need to entice people into the new green world”
14 May 2024
Automotive Decoded
New Volkswagen Tiguan - class leader?
13 May 2024
Automotive Decoded
Delphi's 500 bar GDi and Changan Auto
10 May 2024
Newsletters in other sectors
Aerospace, Defence & Security
Automotive
Banking & Payments
Travel and Tourism
Search companies, themes, reports, as well as actionable data & insights spanning 22 global industries
Access more premium companies when you subscribe to Explorer