'Quality Is Going To Deteriorate': Laid-Off Tesla Employees On Superchargers' Future

Because he worked as a technician servicing Tesla's Superchargers, John thought he had job security, especially as that network started opening up to other automakers.

"We were thinking, we'll really have a flood of more servicing to do," said John, one of several verified, now-former Tesla employees who spoke to InsideEVs about their experiences this week. "Then all of a sudden, this happens."

"This" would be the multiple rounds of layoffs that cost John and an estimated 20,000 other Tesla employees their jobs over the past month. This week alone, those layoffs included most, if not all, of the team developing and servicing Tesla's Supercharger network—its vast and well-regarded system of fast public EV chargers. The move comes when Tesla seems to be pivoting away from new cars and their support ecosystem to focus on AI and robotaxis instead. 

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If you were impacted by today's Tesla Supercharging team layoffs, or have information to share, contact the author at [email protected] from a safe, non-work device. We are happy to speak anonymously and securely. 

The former employees who spoke to InsideEVs did so under the condition of anonymity out of fear of professional repercussions or litigation from Tesla; they are being referred to by pseudonyms in this story. Those ex-employees who worked on or around Supercharger service and maintenance said that life at Tesla was often chaotic and intensely busy. But with even fewer people to diagnose and fix those fast chargers, they all wonder: will the network's legendary ease of use and reliability start to suffer? 

"That's the billion-dollar question," said Angelo, another laid-off Tesla employee quoted with a pseudonym. He had been working with a team involved in Tesla's Supercharger problem diagnosis and repair process. 

"We couldn't keep up. And now the network is even larger," he said. "Now, guess what? There are even more consumers. There's gonna be a lot more issues that could possibly come up."

John said he shared the same concerns. "What I'm hearing is, there's still some guys in the field, but they're gonna be pretty over-tasked," he said. And for those employees who are left, "they're kind of