Range Anxiety
Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn’t wasting any time in pulling out of one of his car company’s key value propositions: its Supercharger network.
Earlier this week, news emerged that Musk was conducting yet another round of layoffs, including senior director of EV charging Rebecca Tinucci — alongside her 500-person-strong team.
Now, Electrek reports that the EV maker has backed out of four Supercharger location leases across the New York City area that were meant to address overcrowding at existing lots.
In other words, charging your Tesla at a Supercharger could soon get a whole lot more miserable — the direct result of Musk tightening the belt and making major cuts across the board in light of plummeting sales and a disastrous financial outlook.
The move is particularly confusing because just a few years ago, Musk had been a huge public believer in the Supercharger vision — even bragging about plans to open burger restaurants at the locations so that drivers could dine while their EVs charged.
Plenty of investors are blaming Musk for the company’s wandering vision, saying he’s alienated buyers and tanked the carmaker’s reputation with his bizarre political outbursts and fixation on autonomous driving — all at the expense of basic services for Tesla drivers, like a reliable charging network.
Charging Deserts
Overcrowding at Superchargers, especially in busy city centers, has become a real issue. New York City passed new incentives to electrify ride-sharing vehicles, which made the situation even worse.
Tesla had promised to install 100 additional chargers around the city by the end of 2024. Given the latest news, however, those sites will likely never be realized.
Or at least, Tesla won’t be operating them. EV charging company Revel has already expressed interest, per Electrek, in taking over three of the four sites where initial work had already begun.
In short, Musk’s commitment to a core feature that sets it apart from its rapidly growing competition is seriously waning, highlighting just how much trouble the car company is.
The rest of the car industry has fallen woefully behind, struggling to provide a reliable — and fast enough — way to charge EVs in many parts of the country.
Perplexingly, Tesla is blowing a considerable lead. The carmaker is in a unique position, especially considering its fast-charging plug, the North American Charging Standard is quickly becoming ubiquitous across other car brands.
Tesla is making some drastic changes in a very short amount of time. Even the team designated to develop and market new vehicles was let go in its entirety during the second round of layoffs, which could have major repercussions for Tesla’s alleged plans to build a cheaper passenger car.
More on Tesla: Tesla Reportedly Laying Off Every Single Employee Working on Superchargers
Source Agencies
