Leave it to Tesla CEO Elon Musk to add more chaos to a situation he seemingly created in the first place.
In a tweet on X early Friday morningMusk has addressed the concerns many have had about his recent move to downsize Tesla’s (TSLA) Supercharger team.
“To reiterate, Tesla will spend over $500 million this year expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers,” Musk wrote. “This only applies to new locations and expansions, not to mention the operational costs, which are much higher.”
Shortly afterwards, Musk also started a “Supercharger Community” on Xwhere members can discuss and share stories on the topic.
Whether Musk’s statement that Tesla is still investing heavily in the Supercharger is accurate or not is another story, but the industry, investors and EV owners are looking for clarity and demanding answers.
Last week, Musk and Tesla fired almost the entire Supercharger organization, which was responsible for building out their best-in-class charging network. In the wake of the first layoffs, Musk turned to the Supercharger news about Xstating that the network will grow “at a slower pace” for new locations.
Automakers like GM, Ford, Kia, Polestar, Stellantis, Honda and others had signed up to access the Supercharger network and integrate Tesla’s NACS plug into their future vehicles, under the promise that the Supercharger network would remain steady to grow. pace.
Tesla likely got an earful from its NACS partners, wondering what exactly they were getting after signing deals for access to the Supercharger network.
Additionally, contractors and others working with Tesla on existing Supercharger projects had their emails bounced without feedback on what to do next. Tesla has also apparently withdrawn from the leases for four upcoming Supercharger locations in New York, according to EV blog Electrek.
Charging network provider EVgo told Yahoo Finance that it was “actively involved” in developing the NACS network and adding more locations to take advantage of Tesla’s move to scale back its expansion.
EVgo competitor Blink Charging is also ready to take advantage of the opportunity, claiming that potential Supercharger customers have contacted Blink about future orders in the wake of Tesla’s move.
Even oil and gas companies like BP are getting into Tesla. With its BP Pulse charging network, the company said it is “aggressively looking for real estate to scale our network, which is an increased focus following Tesla’s recent announcement.”
The company’s CEO even tells Tesla’s rejected partners to call him.
“If there are any stranded real estate partners looking for someone to call, they should feel free to pick up the phone and call me or look me up on LinkedIn,” Sujay Sharma, CEO of BP Pulse Americas, told Bloomberg.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him Tweet and further Instagram.
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