Read the wild email Tesla is sending to suppliers amid Supercharger chaos
After firing its entire Supercharger team, Tesla has sent out an email to suppliers which shows just how chaotic the decisionmaking leading up to the firings must have been.
Earlier this week, Tesla abruptly fired its entire Supercharging team, leading to an immediate pullback in Supercharger installation plans. Now we’ve seen the email that Tesla has sent to suppliers, and it’s not pretty.
When the firings were announced Monday night, there was little information about how they would affect Tesla’s plans.
On Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.” According to Tesla’s website, Superchargers currently have 99.95% uptime.
But in the interim, we’ve already heard about Supercharger projects being cancelled, including halting rollout in the entire country of Australia, including sites that had already been subject to long-term leases and given the go-ahead for construction which will now be abandoned.
And Tesla has also sent out an email to all of its suppliers, which leaked to the internet. Here it is in full, but with contact information redacted:
To all concerned:
You may be aware that there has been a recent adjustment with the Supercharger organization which is presently undergoing a sudden and thorough restructuring. If you have already received this email, please disregard it as we are attempting to connect with our suppliers and contractors. As part of this process, we are in the midst of establishing new leadership roles, prioritizing projects, and streamlining our payment procedures. Due to the transitional nature of this phase, we are asking for your patience with our response time.
I understand that this period of change may be challenging and that patience is not easy when expecting to be paid, however, I want to express my sincere appreciation for your understanding and support as we navigate through this transition. At this time, please hold on breaking ground on any newly awarded construction projects and planned pre-construction walks. If currently working on an active Supercharging construction site, please continue. Contact [email redacted] for further questions, comments, and concerns. Additionally, hold on working on any new material orders. Contact [email redacted] for further questions, comments, and concerns. If waiting on delayed payment, please contact [email redacted] for a status update. Thank you for your cooperation and patience.
The email is remarkable for several reasons, largely because it shows a lack of structure and consideration to the decision to fire the entire team.
Firstly, Tesla states that it is “attempting” to connect with suppliers and that it may have sent multiple emails to some of them. This suggests that Tesla doesn’t have an established method of contact for all of its suppliers – either it doesn’t have a master contact list, or its previous method including points of contact within Tesla is not usable because, well, those points of contact would have been fired.
Second, it says that the “adjustment” (an odd word for firing an entire department) has led to a process of establishing new leadership roles. This is typically something that a company would consider before changing leaders, and ensure that there are current employees with experience who are ready to step up to take the position of a retiring leader, perhaps with a period of mentorship prior to the outgoing leader’s retirement.
Even in a situation where a firing is sudden, it’s typically reasonable to elevate a previous second-in-command to fill the void. This is why it’s beneficial to have a deep bench – something which Tesla has touted before.
Third, Tesla goes on to mention that these suppliers are “expecting to be paid,” which suggests that Tesla is likely to welch on its payment obligations, at least in the short term. We have seen Musk refuse to pay bills before, so mention of skipping out on payment must raise alarm bells for suppliers who have been working in good faith with Tesla.
Finally, Tesla asks for suppliers to continue construction on active projects, but to hold on breaking ground or doing pre-construction site walks. This could be considered unclear, as there are many parallel steps to approval, permitting and construction of sites, so it’s hard to set a single line that is easily communicated about which sites should continue and which sites shouldn’t. Presumably, site contacts within Tesla would be able to reach out to individual sites and tell them whether to continue construction or not – if they were still working there, which it seems they are not.
To ask for patience is reasonable when an unforeseen circumstance hits a company, but this is not an unforeseen circumstance – it is entirely self-inflicted by Tesla.
Other charging providers have reacted to Tesla’s disruption of its own Supercharger plans, with at least one company, Revel, suggesting that it’s ready to swoop in on “really good sites” that Tesla left on the table, particularly in Revel’s home in New York City.
Electrek’s Take
We have heard from several sources who told us that the reason for these firings is because Rebecca Tinucci, former head of Tesla’s EV Charging division, resisted Musk’s demand to fire large portions of her team.
While this is hearsay, it’s plausible considering the language in Musk’s letter announcing the firings – which claimed that some executives are not taking headcount reduction seriously, and made a point to say that executives who retain the wrong employees may see themselves and their whole teams cut. It isn’t a stretch to think that Musk included those demands since they were related to his firing of Tinucci and her team.
The Supercharging team was one of the more successful and crucial teams within Tesla, and many observers consider the Supercharger network to be Tesla’s primary “moat” that makes it better than the competition. Tinucci was also responsible for negotiating NACS agreements across the industry, leading to a huge win when Tesla’s plug became the de facto standard after basically every automaker adopted it over the course of the last year.
Superchargers are also incredibly important, especially in North America. In Europe there are more successful non-Tesla charge providers, but in NA, Tesla is the big dog. And if infrastructure is important, then Tesla pulling back is bad not just for Tesla but for EVs as a whole.
It seems abundantly clear that, whatever explanation we accept, the firing of the Supercharger team was not well-considered (and our readers seem to agree). Even if headcount reduction is necessary, the whole team shouldn’t be laid off. Even if it was necessary as a retaliatory measure – which would not be a good rationale – it still would be wiser to retain some part of it so as to avoid the chaos suggested by the email above.
Whatever mechanism led to the firing, it does fit into a pattern of increasingly erratic behavior that Musk has been showing lately.
Many possible explanations have been advanced to explain this behavior, and most of them don’t increase my personal faith that Musk will make the right decisions with Tesla.
As I said in our original post about Tesla’s first round of layoffs, we do need Tesla to keep pushing the industry forward. While Pandora’s box is open and EVs are here to stay at this point, regardless of Tesla’s ups and comparatively-rare downs, the rest of the industry is still trying hard to pump the brakes on the transition, even if it means America will be less competitive if those companies get their way.
Tesla is one of the few entities that is large enough and committed enough to dragging those timelines forward, whether the rest of the industry likes it or not. We need a healthy Tesla, and for that, we need steadier management. This email is not an example of that – and neither are most of Musk’s managerial actions recently.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Elon Musk implies that he’ll quit his part-time job as CEO of Tesla (TSLA) if he doesn’t get his $1 trillion pay package. On today’s episode of Quick Charge, I suggest GM’s Mary Barra should replace him, and explore some of the compelling EV deals out there looking to take a bite out of Elon’s market share.
In addition to my take on what the TSLA board should or shouldn’t decide, we’ve got a pile of EV lease deals, some hot, upcoming new electric Jeep models, and a look at some of the ways the end of the Federal EV tax credit isn’t the end at all.
Quick Charge is brought to you by Climate XChange, a nonpartisan nonprofit working to help states pass effective, equitable climate policies. The nonprofit just kicked off its 10th annual EV raffle, where participants have multiple opportunities to win their dream model. Visit CarbonRaffle.org/Electrek to learn more.
Source Links
Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (most weeks, anyway). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
The US added more than 4,000 new DC fast-charging ports in Q3 2025, pushing the total past 64,000. The country’s EV infrastructure keeps maturing, despite new station openings slowing slightly this summer.
US DC fast-charging ports expand past 64,000
According to EV charging data platform Paren’s latest “State of the US Fast EV Charging Industry Report,” the number of public DC fast-charging ports climbed to 64,486 across 12,375 charging stations nationwide in Q3 2025. That’s despite a modest slowdown in new openings: Operators added 699 new stations, down 12% from Q2, and 4,061 new ports, down 7.7%.
Paren says the dip mirrors seasonal trends seen in 2024 and expects growth to rebound in Q4, with early October data already coming in strong. The company still projects the US to add around 16,700 new ports by the end of 2025. Notably, larger charging stations are becoming the norm: 27% of all stations now have eight or more stalls, up from 23% last quarter.
Tesla dominates new ports, and the market widens
Tesla led Q3 deployments with 1,820 new ports – nearly 45% of all added nationwide. ChargePoint (300), Red E (215), Electrify America (164), and EV Connect (146) rounded out the top five. But Paren notes that smaller and regional operators collectively accounted for 21% of new ports, demonstrating how the market is diversifying.
Every state added at least one new fast-charging station this quarter. California again led the pack with 108 new sites, followed by Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. Upstart network Ionna, formed earlier this year by seven automakers, opened 12 new stations with 132 ports. At the same time, Michigan-based Red E jumped to third place after expanding across 18 states, including new sites at Aldi supermarkets.
Summer travel lifted fast charging demand
The summer travel season drove EV charging activity higher across almost the entire US. Fast charger use increased in 45 states, stayed flat in one, and dipped in five. Maine saw the biggest bump (+1.9 in utilization growth), followed by Montana (+1.8), New York (+1.8), and Oregon (+1.8), all reflecting busier tourism routes and expanding highway and corridor buildouts.
Paren also found signs that Tesla’s opening its Supercharger network to non-Tesla EV drivers is shifting behavior. Some non-Tesla charging stations saw slight utilization declines, suggesting a growing number of drivers are switching to Tesla’s network for convenience.
It’s all about reliability and upkeep
Paren’s “reliability index” measures charger reliability, taking into account recent successful charge sessions with and without retries, failed charge attempts, and station downtime over a specific time period.
Reliability based on Paren’s definition inched up again, from 92.1% to 92.3%. Thirty-two states improved their reliability scores this quarter, while 15 declined and four held steady. Oklahoma showed the biggest improvement (+4.4), though it still ranks last overall at 73.3%. Mississippi (91.1, +2.6) and Idaho (92.1, +2) also made solid gains, while Rhode Island (88.2, -2.7) and Alaska (96.3, -1.9) saw declines.
Paren says reliability now depends less on geography and more on operator performance, site age, and proactive maintenance. With more federally and state-funded chargers coming online, the focus is shifting from buildout to upkeep. Operators investing in preventive maintenance, faster outage response, and top-quality software integration will be best positioned to keep drivers happy.
Average fast-charging prices rose by a penny
Nationwide average pricing rose by a penny in Q3 to $0.49 per kilowatt-hour, with most states falling between $0.48 and $0.54. Hawaii remains the priciest at $0.85/kWh, while Nebraska is the cheapest at $0.42/kWh. Several charge point operators offered summer discounts and promotional rates, but Paren found no clear link between lower prices and higher use.
A few states saw notable price swings: Alaska jumped $0.04, while Arkansas dropped $0.05 and Hawaii fell $0.07. The jury’s still out on whether rates continue rising post-summer; that will depend on wholesale electricity costs, demand trends, and competition among networks.
Electrek’s Take
Paren’s Q3 snapshot shows a maturing charging market: slightly slower but steady growth, improving reliability, and broader competition. Tesla’s Superchargers are still leading the pack when it comes to the volume of new ports being rolled out. Still, the fast charging landscape is expanding with more regional players and multi-port hubs with both NACS and CCS capability across the map. A big priority now is to keep those chargers working and affordable as more people switch to EVs.
Read more: The US added 4,200 new DC fast charging ports, and that’s just Q2
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Is it electric? A hybrid? A new Toyota crossover SUV was spotted testing out in public rocking a unique look.
New Toyota EV crossover and SUVs are coming soon
Toyota is gearing up to launch a series of new battery electric (BEV), hybrid, and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles over the next few years in nearly every market.
In the US, Toyota currently offers just one fully electric vehicle (excluding the Lexus RZ), the bZ (formerly the bZ4X), but that will soon change.
Toyota plans to offer seven fully electric vehicles by mid-2027, including under its luxury Lexus brand. Joining the updated bZ and Lexus RZ next year will be the smaller C-HR crossover and more rugged bZ Woodland SUVs.
Shortly after, it will introduce two electric SUVs that Toyota will build at its plant in Kentucky. Although Toyota has yet to announce it publicly, the new electric SUVs are expected to be based on the RAV4 and Land Cruisers. They will replace the Lexus ES in Kentucky, while the next-gen EV version will be exported to the US from Japan.
In Europe, Toyota will launch the updated bZ4X, CH-R+, and Urban Cruisers by the end of the year. Three additional crossovers and SUVs are set to follow in 2026.
While we already know what most of those will looks like, the new crossover SUV doesn’t appear to be any of them. The spy photos from SH Proshots (via Autoevolution) show what looks to be the next-gen Toyota Venza, or the Harrier for those outside of the US.
You can tell it’s a bit taller and less aerodynamic than the electric crossover SUVs that Toyota showcased earlier this year.
The Venza was a bit of a step up from your average Toyota SUV with a more premium feel, but it was discontinued after the 2024 model year to make way for the Crown Signia.
Although Toyota has yet to reveal anything about the next-gen Venza, rumors suggest it will be built on the TNGA-K platform, which underpins the new RAV4. The platform is designed to open up interior space with a lower center of gravity.
Inside, you can expect to see Toyota’s latest Audio Multimedia system, which also debuted in the new RAV4. The setup includes a standard 10.5″ smartphone-like touchscreen infotainment or you can upgrade to the larger 12.9″ screen.
Given Toyota has yet to publicly announced the next-gen Venza, powertrain options is still up in the air. The report speculates it will arrive as a self-charging hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV), or both.
Since it’s still in its early stages, the new model isn’t expected to launch until 2027. It could arrive as a 2028 model year in the US.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024