- Tesla is now hiring back some of the employees it laid off after shutting down its charging infrastructure team.
- Although Rebecca Tinucci, formerly the head of charging, is not back yet, another executive, Max de Zegher, has been rehired.
- Laid off employees have expressed concern over Tesla’s ability to run its Supercharger network effectively after the staff reductions.
Late last month, Tesla stunned the world by axing the entire 500-person team behind its network of fast-charging stations, and shuttering the department. Now, the electric automaker has rehired some of the laid off staff in an apparent effort to walk its decision back.
Shortly after the move was made public, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X, the social media network that he owns, to say that the Supercharger network would continue to grow, but “at a slower pace.” Last week, the executive added that Tesla would spend $500 million on expanding its Supercharger network this year.
Read: Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Spend $500 Million Expanding Supercharger Network This Year
Although Musk did not provide details about Tesla’s plans for its charging network, Bloomberg reports that some laid off employees are now being hired back onto the team. Although it remains unclear how many staff members are returning, one senior figure, Max de Zegher, the director of charging for North America, is back with the automaker.
However, so far, there is no indication that the former top executive for charging infrastructure, Rebecca Tinucci, has returned. Others might not be easy to hire back, either, as competing charging companies, like BP Pulse, have expressed an interest in hiring laid off Supercharger workers to expand their own networks.
Even after rehiring some of the workers, Tesla may have a hard time managing its charging locations. Former workers revealed that the Supercharger maintenance team was overwhelmed with work before the layoffs, and expressed concerns that the cuts would lead to declining customer experiences, just as new automakers were set to gain access to the network.
This isn’t the first time that Musk has launched devastating staff cuts, only to talk them back. In 2022, after purchasing Twitter, he laid off about half of the company’s employees before asking dozens of them to return.
