- A former Tesla employee says the Supercharger team depended on overworked employees before layoffs
- Now that the team has been gutted, the laid-off worker predicts that more problems will crop up
- The issues may present themselves as the network becomes busier than ever
Following a tough quarter, and facing a difficult future, Tesla has launched what its CEO Elon Musk refers to as “absolutely hardcore” headcount and cost reductions. That has led the company to cut the team responsible for its Supercharger network, and the laid-off workers believe that’s bad news for users.
The issue is particularly concerning as non-Tesla EVs can use Superchargers. Although it has been rated as America’s most reliable charging network, it relied on a team of employees who describe themselves as overworked.
Read: What Is Tesla Doing With $17M In Federal Charging Grants After Firing Supercharger Team?
A laid-off worker who was part of Tesla’s charging station diagnosis and repair team spoke to InsideEVs on condition of anonymity, saying that even when the Supercharger team was well-staffed, they struggled to handle all the workload and that he had to be available 19 to 24 hours per day.
“We couldn’t keep up. And now the network is even larger,” the employee said. “Now, guess what? There are even more consumers. There’s gonna be a lot more issues that could possibly come up.”
The former Tesla worker said that “quality is going to deteriorate” following these layoffs, and that customers will soon start seeing Tesla struggling to fix charging issues in a timely manner.
The Supercharger network counts 50 million stations, making it the largest EV fast-charging network on the planet. On average, each location handles about 320 charging sessions per day, a number that is expected to rise as more non-Tesla EVs gain access to the network.
And faith is low in Tesla’s ability to manage itself in the wake of these layoffs, as the anonymous worker said he didn’t even know if he would be receiving something as basic as severance. The former Tesla worker said it has been “radio silence” since he was informed of his termination, adding that “nobody knows anything. Even some of the other leaders that were impacted above me. They have no idea.”
