Elon Musk is a pigeon CEO, ‘he comes, sh*ts all over us, and goes’, says former Tesla manager
Elon Musk was described as a “pigeon CEO”: “he comes, shits all over us, and goes”, said a former Tesla employee.
Now, the CEO is signaling a focus on Tesla.
Musk has always been an interesting case of a CEO as he has been both CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, two major companies, for nearly two decades.
This is highly unusual, especially when one of those companies is a major public company where the CEO has a fiduciary duty to many retail shareholders.
But things have evidently gotten even wilder in recent years as Musk is now the defacto head of 6 companies: Tesla, SpaceX, X, xAI, Neuralink, and the Boring Company.
Even considering Musk’s known long days, it’s impossible for him to be a full-time CEO at Tesla. Several shareholders have expressed concerns about this fact and former Tesla employees who were recently let go in a wave of layoffs last week also confirmed to Electrek that the CEO has indeed been spending a lot less time at the automaker as of late.
A former manager described Musk as a “pigeon CEO”:
“He comes in, shits all over us, and then leaves.”
For example, a former employee described how the CEO came in one day to see a newly finished section of Gigafactory Texas, which workers had just finished in a rush that came from Musk’s own accelerated timeline, just to be told to change the whole wall to glass – for seemingly no reason.
There’s a real concern that Musk is not as much in touch with Tesla since buying Twitter and trying to turn the social media platform around.
But the CEO is signaling a change.
Musk is believed to be behind the massive wave of layoffs at Tesla last week that, as we reported, also hid several moves that reshaped programs at Tesla.
The CEO also said yesterday that he is postponing a trip to India to focus on some “very heavy Tesla obligations”:
Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year.
Coincidently or not, this is happening just as Tesla is asking its shareholders to vote on reinstating Musk’s massive $55 billion compensation package and the vote is seen as a sort of vote of confidence for the CEO.
Electrek’s Take
I think it’s very fair to say that Musk has been spending a lot less time working at Tesla in recent years, especially since his acquisition at Twitter. I also think it’s fair to say that he seems to be coming back to it, for better or worse, in the last few weeks.
It might be because Tesla had a bad quarter, and he thinks that he needs to right the ship, or it might be because an important shareholder vote is coming, and he wants to look like he is spending time on Tesla right now.
Tomorrow’s earnings call should say a lot.
So far, Musk has blamed Tesla’s bad performance almost entirely on external factors. It will be interesting to see if that changes and he takes some responsibilities in the future.
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Environment
U.S. crude oil falls below $60 a barrel to lowest since 2021 on tariff-fueled recession fears
A view shows disused oil pump jacks at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan April 2, 2025.
Pavel Mikheyev | Reuters
U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on Sunday on fears President Donald Trump’s global tariffs would push the U.S., and maybe the world, into a recession.
Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $59.74 on Sunday night. The move comes after back-to-back 6% declines last week. WTI is now at the lowest since April 2021.
Worries are mounting that tariffs could lead to higher prices for businesses, which could lead to a slowdown in economic activity that would ultimately hurt demand for oil.
Oil futures, 5 years
The tariffs, which are set to take effect this week, “would likely push the U.S. and possibly global economy into recession this year,” according to JPMorgan. The firm on Thursday raised its odds of a recession this year to 60% following the tariff rollout, up from 40%.
Fueled by incentives from the Illinois EPA and the state’s largest utility company, new EV registrations nearly quadrupled the 12% first-quarter increase in EV registrations nationally – and there are no signs the state is slowing down.
Despite the dramatic slowdown of Tesla’s US deliveries, sales of electric vehicles overall have perked up in recent months, with Illinois’ EV adoption rate well above the Q1 uptick nationally. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the number of new EVs registered across the state totaled 9,821 January through March, compared with “just” 6,535 EVs registered in the state during the same period in 2024.
Those numbers represent more than 50% growth in EV registrations – far beyond the expected 12% first-quarter increase nationally being projected by Cox Automotive. (!)
What’s going on in Illinois?
While President Trump and Elmo were running for re-election, they campaigned on the threat promise of canceling the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs. Along with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ Governor JB Pritzker made countermoves – launching a $4,000 rebate for new electric cars and up to $1,500 for the purchase of a new electric motorcycle.
At the same time, the state’s largest utility, ComEd, launched a $90 million EV incentive program featuring a new Point of Purchase initiative to deliver instant discounts to qualifying business and public sector customers who make the switch to electric vehicles. That program has driven a surge in Class 3-6 medium duty commercial EVs, which are eligible fro $20-30,000 in utility rebates on top of federal tax credits and other incentives (Class 1-2 EVs are eligible for up to $7,500).
We covered the launch of those incentives when the program was announced at Chicago Drives Electric last year, but the message here is simple: incentives work.
SOURCES: Chicago Business, Ray Cunningham; featured image by the author.
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The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.
Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.
XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.
We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).
XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?
Easy in, easy out
The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.
You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.
SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG.
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