- Musk has confirmed that Tesla will invest in new fast-charging locations in the US
- It comes after the company laid off its entire EV charging team this week
- Tesla’s Supercharger network was on its way to becoming the industry standard
Elon Musk has said Tesla will spend more than $500 million developing the company’s fast-charging network this year, just days after the entire team working on it was fired.
Musk claimed in a post on X Friday that the money would be spent setting up new “Supercharger” sites across the country.
“To reiterate, Tesla will spend over $500 million this year expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers,” he wrote.
“That only applies to new locations and expansions, not to mention operational costs, which are much higher,” he added.
Musk has said Tesla will spend more than $500 million this year developing the company’s fast-charging network
After firing Tesla’s entire EV charging team, Musk claimed Tesla can still deliver stations, but at a slower pace
Tesla’s EV charging network is the largest in the country and received an investment of more than $5 billion from the Biden administration aimed at increasing the popularity and convenience of electric cars.
The most common reason Americans give for not going electric is ‘range anxiety’, or the fear of a shortage of charging stations and the battery running out during a ride.
Now Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) system is widely used by other automakers such as General Motors and Ford.
Tesla has already installed more than 2,200 stations in the US and previously planned to have tens of thousands by 2030.
Earlier this week, there was an uproar after the company abruptly fired all members of its EV charging team, including the executives who oversaw its adoption by the industry.
Among them was the head of the company, Rebecca Tinucci, who sows uncertainty about the future of her network.
EV experts and officials told DailyMail.com that Tesla’s withdrawal from its agreements could simply open a door for other companies to step in.
In the wake of the layoffs, BP’s EV charging unit signaled it was looking to expand in the US.
Tesla has more than 2,000 Supercharger stations in the US and Musk has reiterated plans to open more despite the layoffs
“We are aggressively seeking properties to expand our network, which is an increased focus following Tesla’s recent announcement,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
But Musk said on X that Tesla will still expand the network, but “at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100 percent uptime and expansion of existing locations.”
Uptime is the percentage of time a charger is available for use, providing an indication of the overall efficiency of a network.
Tesla’s firing of its charging team came shortly after it announced companywide layoffs of about 10 percent of its global workforce.
This year, the company’s share price has taken a serious hit. As of Friday, the stock had fallen about 32 percent so far this year.