Tesla fires whole Supercharger team [Update: Musk says supercharger growth will continue]

[ThomasNC]

Which supercharger location?

OBX Mall is the only V3 there is another in Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hills but it is V2, so we can't use it.

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[On the Road with Ralph]

I was a huge fan of Steve Jobs. Elon likes being compared to him. Musk is no Jobs. Steve came back to Apple in the late 1990s, rescued it, and got to see it become the most valuable publicly traded company in the world shortly before his passing. He did all that not through massive layoffs, but by creating insanely great products like the iPhone that people bought in the billions. Musk has absolutely no talent for doing what Jobs did and it is time for Tesla to dump him.

 

[Lightning&Bolt]

OBX Mall is the only V3 there is another in Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hills but it is V2, so we can't use it.

Did you try using the Tesla app?

 

[ThomasNC]

Did you try using the Tesla app?

Yes I tried Plug and charge, the Fordpass app, and the Tesla app.

 

[detansinn]

I have a lot of thoughts on this one

• With Tesla sales through the floor, I would not be surprised if Elon is putting blame to opening up the Supercharger network for the fall in Tesla car demand. I don't think that Elon ever really wanted to do this. He just wanted the tax dollars. The departure of Supercharger leadership certainly suggests this.
• While Ford and Rivian have access and I don't see that going away, it's already obvious that other automakers are in a lurch. There are no specific dates for any of the other OEMs on the calendar. With the Supercharger team gone, Tesla is going to drag their feet on any additional OEM support. I wouldn't be surprised to see them wriggle out of agreements with other automakers.
• I went to check the status of my free NACS adapter this morning and it resulted in a page error. The recent delays in adapter production/shipments are all on Tesla. I don't expect my free adapter to show up anytime soon. I think that we can fully expect Tesla to slow roll additional adapters for Ford and Rivian owners.
• It's entirely possible that Tesla doesn't want to be in the charging business. It's incredibly expensive to build out the capacity and capability. Getting other charging networks to adopt NACS helps get them off the hook to keep building out their own network. The announcement hints at this as it doesn't sound like they're going to be doing any new Supercharger sites not already started.
• Given that they're not doing new sites, it's now highly unlikely that the existing V2 chargers will be upgraded to V3 or V4 as Tesla has suggested in the past.
• Tesla Supercharger reliability has nothing to do with magic components, etc. Their maintenance program has been super aggressive. I have encountered broken superchargers that get fixed quickly. This dramatic cut suggests that Tesla is scaling back on that day-to-day support. I'd expect more issues going forward. We all remember what Electrify America was like back when they weren't doing regular maintenance.

 

[Grumpy2]

Has he just did to the SC network what he did to Twitter?

 

[Machster]

I was on the NC Outer Banks Sunday. Only DCFC is Tesla, since I had my adapter I decided to take the Lightning. I tried 6 different stalls, plug and charge, activating with Fordpass, activating with Tesla. Nothing would work. I had to drive an pray to a recently opened Freewire charger in Columbia, NC. Thankfully it worked and I wasn't stranded. I wanted the whole Supercharger team fired, I just didn't realize Elon would act so quickly on my behalf.

Edit: I would think activating the station with the Tesla app would be enough indication that I was at the right station, but just to clarify I WAS AT THE RIGHT STATION.

Have you successfully used you Tesla Adapter at another site to verify it’s not the adapter? I had issues with my A2Z…until I found the little slide lock on the bottom of the adapter. Once I clicked it…it worked flawlessly

 

[Lightning&Bolt]

Over on the TMC: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/supercharger-team-sacked.326333/
They are stating that all V3/V4's were opened to non-Tesla vehicles overnight? Looking in the Tesla app it does seem like there are more NACS apadter compatible locations?

 

[carys98]

I was on the NC Outer Banks Sunday. Only DCFC is Tesla, since I had my adapter I decided to take the Lightning. I tried 6 different stalls, plug and charge, activating with Fordpass, activating with Tesla. Nothing would work. I had to drive an pray to a recently opened Freewire charger in Columbia, NC. Thankfully it worked and I wasn't stranded. I wanted the whole Supercharger team fired, I just didn't realize Elon would act so quickly on my behalf.

Edit: I would think activating the station with the Tesla app would be enough indication that I was at the right station, but just to clarify I WAS AT THE RIGHT STATION.

Were you at the mall or at the Harris Teeter? The mall station is supposed to be available but the Harris Teeter is a V2.

 

[ThomasNC]

Have you successfully used you Tesla Adapter at another site to verify it’s not the adapter? I had issues with my A2Z…until I found the little slide lock on the bottom of the adapter. Once I clicked it…it worked flawlessly

I have used it twice before in Wilmington. I need to test it again to make sure something isn't wrong with it now. The most frustrating part is there is absolutely no way to know where the issue is since superchargers don't give you any kind of information.

 

[lightspeed]

This is all speculation. But these actions point to a big change in the direction of Tesla.

Making cars has always been a terrible business and chasing the Chinese into the zero margin world is not a winning strategy. Car companies used to have various moats against Chinese car companies, but electrification has removed many of those traditional moats.

The long term future of Tesla might involve some car manufacturing, but the better business strategy probably revolves around FSD, robo-taxis, Optimus. Which is what Tesla keeps saying.

IF it's true that they laid off the supercharger team, that seems like a terrible decision.

 

[LazyLightningATX]

Over on the TMC: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/supercharger-team-sacked.326333/
They are stating that all V3/V4's were opened to non-Tesla vehicles overnight? Looking in the Tesla app it does seem like there are more NACS apadter compatible locations?

Just checked my area and there are 2 v3s that still have not opened up to adapters as of right now according to the tesla app. EDIT: to add that the discussion you linked is from the UK forum, so no idea if that is true over there.

 

[detansinn]

Over on the TMC: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/supercharger-team-sacked.326333/
They are stating that all V3/V4's were opened to non-Tesla vehicles overnight? Looking in the Tesla app it does seem like there are more NACS apadter compatible locations?

When I did my Maine trip this weekend in our Lightning, there were Superchargers available to me that weren't available a month ago. It seems like whatever V3 software updates were needed for those stations got deployed.

 

[detansinn]

Just checked my area and there are 2 v3s that still have not opened up to adapters as of right now according to the tesla app.

With the announcement of the team layoff, I would not hold my breath that any more V3s will open up that aren't open today. It also raises a big red flag regarding access for other automakers.

 

[bosox8]

Has he just did to the SC network what he did to Twitter?

Improve it?

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