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They've done the classic thing of saving pennies now and spending dollars later though. Laying off the Supercharger team is a particularly baffling mistake: Sup

They've done the classic thing of saving pennies now and spending dollars later though. Laying off the Supercharger team is a particularly baffling mistake: Superchargers are the selling point for getting a Tesla as opposed to some other BEV, and especially now that they've opened up the network to other companies. In some areas Tesla owners are already complaining that they can't get a charger because of the non-Tesla vehicles occupying them. That need not necessarily have been a mistake if they went pedal-to-the-floor on building out the network further, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It's a bad error that's going to bite them hard, soon. If this were any other company, HN would instantly and unanimously recognize that this is as the classic MBA/PE blunder of cutting costs but and gutting any chance at future success; the only reason people aren't recognize it as such is because of lingering goodwill towards Elon.

laweijfmvo 2y ago
Agree, the minute I start sensing issues with the Supercharger Network's reliability, I'm out. It's the sole reason I bought a Tesla over any other electric car, and was about to save every other electric car that adopted NACS.
- giobox 2y ago
  With the NACS roll out though its clear the SuperCharger network can no longer be thought of as a Tesla only thing though, and something would probably have had to change regardless. Tesla obviously aren't going to be interested in running the service on behalf of the entire car industry - the profits are meagre and its ultimately just a utility like a gas pump. I think this is an inevitable consequence of progress; Tesla had to build the SuperCharger network back in early 2010s - today it can direct the rest of the industry to continue the task. My guess is we shall shortly see establishment of a new body to manage, pay and extend the SuperCharger network, but as a neutral body acting on behalf of all car makers. Similarly, its no longer just Tesla who have a monopoly on SuperCharger sites - other companies can now build NACS fast chargers such as Electrify America etc: > https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/223 https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/223 Will this be as good as the original network's reliable hardware? Probably not in some places! But just as we don't expect Ford to own every single gas pump, every NACS site being owned and operated by Tesla was probably a non-starter too, especially now its going to be virtually universal across the US EV landscape.

laweijfmvo 2y ago

Agree, the minute I start sensing issues with the Supercharger Network's reliability, I'm out. It's the sole reason I bought a Tesla over any other electric car, and was about to save every other electric car that adopted NACS.

giobox 2y ago
With the NACS roll out though its clear the SuperCharger network can no longer be thought of as a Tesla only thing though, and something would probably have had to change regardless. Tesla obviously aren't going to be interested in running the service on behalf of the entire car industry - the profits are meagre and its ultimately just a utility like a gas pump. I think this is an inevitable consequence of progress; Tesla had to build the SuperCharger network back in early 2010s - today it can direct the rest of the industry to continue the task. My guess is we shall shortly see establishment of a new body to manage, pay and extend the SuperCharger network, but as a neutral body acting on behalf of all car makers. Similarly, its no longer just Tesla who have a monopoly on SuperCharger sites - other companies can now build NACS fast chargers such as Electrify America etc: > https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/223 https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/223 Will this be as good as the original network's reliable hardware? Probably not in some places! But just as we don't expect Ford to own every single gas pump, every NACS site being owned and operated by Tesla was probably a non-starter too, especially now its going to be virtually universal across the US EV landscape.