Future plans for Tesla’s Supercharger network are up in the air, following reports that the company has laid off almost the entire division responsible for it.

Tesla says it still plans to grow the Supercharger network, “just at a slower pace for new locations”

A memo by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to senior executives leaked by The Information said that Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of the Supercharger group, and Daniel Ho, head of new products, would leave the company.

Musk reportedly told staff: “We need to be absolutely hardcore about head count and cost reduction.”

Since then, hundreds of staff from the near 500-strong Supercharger team are believed to have been fired, with some taking to social media to announce their departures. Will Jameson, strategic charging programs lead, confirmed on X that Musk had “let our entire charging org go”.

He added: “What this means for the charging network, NACS, and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I don’t yet know.”

Musk has not confirmed the reports but did post on X saying that Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, “just at a slower pace for new locations” and with “more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations”.

The latest cuts come some two weeks after Tesla laid off about 10% of its staff in the face of rising competition.

The Supercharger layoffs have caused some concern as Tesla has recently scored the coup of having major automakers such as Ford, Volkswagen Group and Stellantis commit to using its connector technology – known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS) – for future electric vehicles, while also enabling more drivers of non-Tesla vehicles to access the network.

In its report, Reuters said GM and Ford have issued separate statements, saying they are not changing plans to equip their Chevrolet, Cadillac or Ford brand EVs with connectors that will allow drivers to recharge at Tesla stations.

“We have nothing new to announce regarding our plans,” GM said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation regarding changes to the Supercharger team and the potential impacts with no further comments or updates at this time.”

Tesla had also started to sell its Superchargers to external charging operators – the first deal, covering $100m of hardware, was announced with BP in October 2023. Speaking at the time, Rebecca Tinucci said selling the fast-charging hardware would support Tesla’s mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”.

The Tesla Supercharger network is the largest fast-charging infrastructure globally, with just under 60,000 connectors at over 6,000 locations. It’s also seen as the most reliable, with a near-perfect figure of 99% uptime.