Yifan from the Vice-Pilot Temple
Smart Car Reference | Official account AI4Auto
Layoffs are down to the main artery.
Half a month ago, Musk was ruthless and laid off the entire supercharging team. This includes team leaders during maternity leave.
And just when he kept emphasizing layoffs and cost reductions, he recalled some employees a few days later.
Is Tesla's "Guangjin Plan" about to converge, or has the supercharging team proved its importance?
The real reason may only be clear to Musk.
Layoffs and rehiring, Tesla's turmoil continues, and talent is still being lost, including one Chinese automaker:
He has been involved in cyber pickup projects from Shanghai, China to Austin, Texas, USA, and is now free to fish at sea.
Musk recalls the supercharging team
According to the latest reports, Musk recalled some employees of the supercharging team, including the middle level of the team such as the director of the North American charging business.
This is not surprising.
A few days ago, some netizens broke the news on social platforms that Musk rehired some employees, mainly responsible for the construction of the new site.
A series of recent influences and events have also proved to Musk the importance of the supercharging team.
After the team was laid off, Tesla's supercharging station operation soon went wrong.
Tesla's charging stations in many places in North America were destroyed and high-voltage cables were stolen, resulting in difficulties for local car owners to charge, causing dissatisfaction.
At the same time, it also hit Tesla's related suppliers.
A supplier in charge said that after learning the news, he was "like a heavy blow".
There are also suppliers who have difficulty establishing a fixed relationship with Tesla because of the sudden departure of the contact person.
This has also shaken the entire industry, and only by improving the energy replenishment network can we promote the development of electric vehicles.
As a well-deserved electric car leader in North America, Tesla's disbandment of the supercharging team once hit the confidence of North American electric vehicles.
Even the electric car charging arm of BP has begun to seek to buy Tesla's supercharging sites, receive employees at the sites, and expand its own charging network in the United States.
Musk may be aware of the serious consequences of layoffs, and has spoken out twice in half a month to feed "reassurance".
As soon as the news of the supercharging team leaving was exposed, Musk posted that Tesla would continue to build new supercharging stations.
Later, it was reiterated on May 10 and revealed a more specific plan, saying that Tesla would spend 500 million US dollars (equivalent to about 3.62 billion yuan) to expand the supercharging network this year.
He added that $500 million was just the cost of building the new site, not including operating costs, and that it was more than that.
Tesla's official also cooperated with its own boss and posted eight posts in a row on the same day to introduce the completion of the new site, and Musk also forwarded it.
To build a new station, you have to ask for people.
There is no more suitable person than an old employee who has been laid off.
I knew that I would be rehired today, so why did I have to cut it all in the first place?
According to reports, in fact, Musk did not plan to lay off the supercharging team at the beginning, and the original plan was to lay off some of them.
It's just that the team leader Rebecca Tinucci thinks that there are too many layoffs and resists this, so Musk fired Tinucci and the team all in order to establish his authority, and came to "kill chickens and make an example".
Let's lay it off first, and then recall it if it doesn't work, this is not the first time Musk has done this.
Previously, Musk took over the X platform (formerly Twitter) and quickly laid off a large number of employees, but soon recalled some of them.
But in contrast, Musk's big layoffs at Tesla this time undoubtedly have a greater impact.
Even some executives couldn't stand it and posted a message of criticism after resigning.
Departing executives: Layoffs hit morale
Recently, Rich Otto, Tesla's head of product launches, announced his departure.
He spent 6 years and 9 months at Tesla, where he served as a project manager for major events at Tesla, where he was responsible for the launch of the Cyber Pickup and the first deliveries of the Model Y and Model S Plaid.
In his statement announcing his departure, he criticized Tesla's layoffs.
Otto believes that great companies are made up of great people and products, but the recent layoffs have shaken Tesla, hit morale, and expressed his vision for Tesla's future.
He also hopes that the laid-off employees will return to work.
However, Otto soon deleted the statement, and it is unclear why.
So, is it the departing executives who have raised their arms and brought the opportunity to rehire the employees of the supercharging team?
Of course not.
What prompted Musk to withdraw his decision, and then recalled after the layoff, was more about the supercharging team, or the importance of the charging business behind it, which Musk had to pay attention to.
In addition to posting about Tesla's station building plan, Musk also recently personally formed a charging community on social platforms to collect suggestions on the charging experience and the deployment of new stations.
From the reversal of fate of the supercharging team in the short term, it can also be seen that the turmoil caused by the turn of Tesla's elephant, as well as the internal state at this time, similar events may happen.
One More Thing
In this wave of turmoil in Tesla, a Chinese auto talent is also free:
Zhu Renjie, director of manufacturing at Cybertruck, announced that he would leave Tesla and did not disclose his next steps for the time being.
Zhu Renjie, Master of Materials Forming and Control Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, joined FAW-Volkswagen after graduating in 2004 and has been working in the automotive industry.
In 2019, he left Volkswagen and joined Tesla, where he worked for more than 5 years.
So major domestic players, can they line up to make offers?