Even as Tesla purportedly axes its dedicated Supercharger team, Elon Musk is doubling down on the company’s commitment to rapidly grow its proprietary charging infrastructure. Elon took to X to reiterate plans for a massive $500 million-plus investment solely focused on new Supercharger stations and site expansions.
“Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year,” Elon post in an uncharacteristically detailed breakdown of Tesla’s charging roadmap.
His blunt statement served as a clear rebuttal to recent reports that the automaker had disbanded its entire Supercharger program team, leaving the future of its charging buildouts uncertain.
Elon Musk’s reassurances were echoed by regional communications from Tesla itself. Tesla’s Australian division issued an email update affirming “The Supercharger network is still core to Tesla’s mission; The network will continue to be expanded.” Ongoing Supercharger projects already underway will still be “completed and put into operation.”
The mixed messaging from Elon Musk and Tesla arrives as the company aggressively cuts costs through widespread layoffs, including the termination of EV charging chief Rebecca Tinucci and her 500-person charging team, according to reports. It’s a shocking reversal from just last year when the automaker was struggling to hire quickly enough to install chargers.
While Tesla evidently has no intentions of slowing Supercharger rollout plans in the short term, eliminating its specialized charging arm raises long-term questions about navigating increasingly complex infrastructure expansion. Add in pledges to open the proprietary network to non-Tesla EVs, and the company’s charging strategy is shaping up to be its biggest greenfield opportunity – and risk.
For now, Elon remains bullish on investing heavily in the critical charging backbone enabling long road trips in Teslas.