- Tesla boss promises a continued investment into Supercharger network despite layoffs
- Competitors looking to cash in on the slowdown of Tesla’s Supercharger expansion
- Tesla often relies on third-party contractors to install new Supercharger stations
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk claims the car manufacturer still intends to spend $500 million to expand its Supercharger network this year, despite recently axing the entire 500-strong person team behind the charging network.
In the two weeks since the sackings were made, Musk has remained uncharacteristically silent on the issue, but on Friday, he took to X (formerly Twitter) to reiterate plans to continue to grow the Supercharger network.
Read: BP Wants To Buy Up Tesla Supercharger Locations And Hire Its Staff
“Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year,” he said. “That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher.”
Musk failed to provide any additional details about Tesla’s expansion plans for the Supercharger network. While the layoffs may lead to a lack of development of future Supercharger technologies, the carmaker relies on third-party contractors to install its new charging points across the U.S.
While Musk has assured investors the Supercharger network will continue to grow, albeit slower than planned, rival charging companies are already looking to cash in on Tesla’s charging network woes. Last week, the chief executive of BP Pulse, Sujay Sharma, said the company is aggressively looking to acquire new real estate and will happily take over planned Supercharger sites in the U.S.
“If there are stranded real estate partners who are looking for someone to call, they should feel free to pick up the phone and call me or look me up on LinkedIn,” Sharma said. BP Pulse has 27,000 charge points worldwide and hopes to grow to 100,000 by 2030.
Tesla’s profits for the first quarter of 2024 were the lowest since 2021, which likely contributed to the layoffs. Despite headcount cuts, the carmaker is still planning significant investments into autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, battery cell technology, and new products, The Wall Street Journal reports.
