Tesla loses another manager to layoffs – but this one quit due to morale
The Tesla layoff saga continues, with a manager leaving the company after 7 years. But this time, the manager wasn’t laid off, but rather left on his own volition due to the effect that layoffs had on morale.
It seems like every few days there’s another notice of new layoffs at Tesla. It started with Tesla laying off “more than 10%” of its global workforce in mid-April, a layoff round which had been rumored for some time.
In the wake of that first announcement, we’ve heard of many entire teams that have been cut, many seemingly for rather petty reasons.
Tesla’s entire ad team was cut just a few months after being formed because CEO Elon Musk said the ads were “too generic.” And Tesla’s entire supercharging team felt Musk’s wrath after its standout head, Rebecca Tinucci, apparently did not satisfy Musk’s desire for more cuts – so instead, he axed the entire team, despite it being one of the most-successful within the company.
Tesla also laid off several workers in software and service earlier this week, despite service still being a necessary department to grow as more Tesla vehicles hit the road and continue to age.
The layoffs haven’t just included rank-and-file employees, but many high-ranking executives, leading observers to notice that Musk seems to be trying to isolate himself at the top. Currently, Tesla only has one C-level executive other than Musk himself listed on its corporate governance page – CFO Vaibhav Taneja, who was elevated to that role in September. Tom Zhu is still listed as head of automotive, despite Electrek reporting that he’s been demoted back to head of China earlier this week.
The layoffs are affecting morale, with many employees wondering when the bleeding will stop and if their division might be next to fall to the CEO’s frantic whims. And observers can’t help but wonder why Musk is continuing to take such destructive actions to his own company.
The low morale associated with these layoffs claimed one victim this week, as a Tesla manager decided to leave the company amid the chaos, saying that Tesla “has taken its pound of flesh.”
Rich Otto, head of product launches, resigns from Tesla
Rich Otto was the Head of Product Launches at Tesla, having worked at Tesla for 7 years and previously working at Faraday Future.
Otto started in Tesla’s communications team, working with Tesla’s fleet of vehicles for press and reviewers, and went on to manage that team. He was the person responsible for getting cars to tech reviewers.
After that, Otto moved on to be the head of product launches, acting as the program manager for Tesla’s launch events. He managed the events for the first deliveries of Model S Plaid, Model Y and Cybertruck, and Tesla’s Cyber Rodeo at Gigafactory Texas. He also worked on other aspects of Tesla’s customer-facing communications.
Otto said in a LinkedIn post that he loved the collaborative working environment within Tesla, and most of all loved the people working there.
But now, with the effects of the layoffs on morale, not only are some of the “great people” formerly working at Tesla no longer there (like Daniel Ho, head of Vehicle Programs, who worked with Otto on vehicle launches but was laid off alongside the supercharging team), but those still working there are wondering what the path forward is. In his post, Otto said it’s “hard to see the long-game” of these decisions.
Why leave? It’s a company I love and that has given me so much, but has also taken its pound of flesh.
Great companies are made up of equal parts great people and great products, and the latter are only possible when its people are thriving. The recent layoffs that are rocking the company and its morale have thrown this harmony out of balance and it’s hard to see the long-game. It was time for a change.
-Rich Otto, Former Head of Product Launches at Tesla, on LinkedIn
Otto says that he sent his resignation last week, and that he’s going to take some time off before figuring out what to do next.
Electrek’s Take
We’ve said time and time again that the nature of how Tesla is conducting these layoffs would affect morale, and this is just one example of a high-ranking veteran employee who decided they’d had enough.
Maybe some will consider this a good thing, because if headcount reduction is the most important thing for Tesla right now, then getting people to leave voluntarily can only help in the headcount reduction goal.
However, a company should have a more structured method to its layoffs. This does not seem to be an example of an employee who already had bad morale leaving – it’s an example of an employee whose morale was negatively affected by the chaotic actions of current management, and seemingly unending rounds of layoffs, responding and thinking that he could do better elsewhere away from the unnecessary stress being imposed on everyone in the company by the CEO himself.
If the goal of layoffs is to eliminate low performers, this isn’t how you do it. And if the goal is to eliminate those who already have bad morale, making employees’ morale worse is not the way to do it.
As a contrast, we also saw VW undertake some layoffs in Germany at the start of this month, and that hasn’t led to nearly as chaotic a situation within that company.
Instead of firing entire teams because of personality conflicts with their successful leaders, VW offered contract buyouts to its workers. This means that low-morale workers, or workers close to retirement, can depart on good terms. And current workers can remain secure in their jobs, thus affecting overall morale a lot less (and maybe even positively, as low-morale workers are likely the first to take the buyouts).
And VW still gets its desired money savings from trimming headcount. But it doesn’t have to deal with the poor PR of chaotic layoffs, or of post-employment chaos like sending incorrect severance packages and having no idea which suppliers they’re working with, as Tesla has.
Maybe it would be good for Musk to take some notes from a real CEO, especially while he’s currently trying to convince shareholders to give him $55 billion – enough to pay the 14,000+ employees he’s laid off six-figure salaries for ~40 years – amidst the chaos his part-time management is causing.
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An aircraft alledgedly carrying US businessman Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland on January 7, 2025.
Emil Stach | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump‘s pursuit to acquire Greenland could well be motivated by critical minerals, with mining executives and researchers describing the island’s massive resource potential as an “enormous opportunity.”
Trump’s years-long bid to take control of the world’s largest island has kicked into overdrive in recent weeks.
Ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump said U.S. ownership of the autonomous Danish territory is an “absolute necessity” for purposes related to “national security and freedom throughout the world.”
Trump has since doubled down on those comments, refusing to rule out the use of military or economic force to make Greenland a part of the U.S.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has told Trump that the Arctic island is “not for sale” and urged the international community to respect the territory’s aspirations for independence. Alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Egede has also recently called for talks with Trump to resolve the situation.
Asked about Trump’s fixation on making Greenland a part of the U.S., the president-elect’s incoming national security advisor, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., was unequivocal.
“This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources,” Waltz told Fox News in an interview on Jan. 9.
“This is about reintroducing America in the Western Hemisphere,” Waltz said. “You can call it Monroe Doctrine 2.0, but this is all part of the ‘America First‘ agenda.”
Greenland is going to become more and more topical; it is going to become more and more front and center because of the climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion and the geopolitical discussion.
Roderick McIllree
Executive director of 80 Mile
Critical minerals refer to a subset of materials considered essential to the energy transition. These minerals, which tend to have a high risk of supply chain disruption, include metals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.
Critical minerals and rare earth elements are vital components in emerging green technologies, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles, energy storage technologies and national security applications.
China is the undisputed leader of the critical minerals supply chain, accounting for roughly 60% of the world’s production of rare earth minerals and materials. U.S. officials have previously warned that this poses a strategic challenge amid the pivot to low-carbon energy sources.
In this aerial view melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat Icefjord on July 16, 2024 near Ilulissat, Greenland.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Jakob Kløve Keiding, senior consultant at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said a 2023 survey of Greenland’s resource potential evaluated a total of 38 raw materials on the island, the vast majority of which have a relatively high or moderate potential.
These materials include the rare earth metals graphite, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum and titanium.
“Overall, we can say that there is a huge potential for critical raw materials [in Greenland],” Keiding told CNBC via telephone.
“Many of these are of great importance for the EU economy and, of course, it is not limited to just Europe. Many of these are also on the list of American [critical raw materials],” he added.
‘Greenland is not for sale’
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenland member of the Danish parliament from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, described Trump’s comments about Greenland as “disrespectful” and reaffirmed the prime minister’s message by saying the territory is not for sale.
“I’m not concerned. I think that some people in Greenland are quite concerned, but I think it is important for us to say that Greenland is not for sale, never has been for sale [and] never will be for sale,” Chemnitz told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro on Monday.
Chemnitz said Greenlandic lawmakers would need to have “clear and very specific goals on how to collaborate with the U.S.”
Closer ties between Greenland and the U.S. moving forward, for instance, could help to facilitate investment in the island’s mining industry, she added.
“If we look at extraction, for example, of rare earths. This is something that we have been willing to do for a very long time. We’ve been looking for American investors, [but] we haven’t found them, so they are quite welcome,” Chemnitz said.
The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence in northwest Greenland at the Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.
‘A race for what’s left’
Roderick McIllree, executive director of U.K.-based mining company 80 Mile, said he’s been working in Greenland for just over 20 years on projects ranging from resource discovery to feasibility.
“I think that what we’re seeing in Greenland is really a race for what’s left,” McIllree told CNBC via video call.
“A lot of independent state surveys are pointing to Greenland and its natural shelf boundaries as potentially hosting 20% to 25% of the last remaining extractable resources on the planet. Now, if that’s right, that’s an enormous opportunity for Greenland.”
The Old Colonial Harbour of Nuuk, Greenland is pictured on August 30, 2024. Greenland, an icy land whose rugged landscapes are bewitching, wants to attract more tourists, a paradox for a territory that is particularly vulnerable to global warming and whose geographical isolation means that many people have to take planes to get there.
James Brooks | Afp | Getty Images
80 Mile currently has three projects it is actively developing in Greenland, including a large oil concession on the island’s east coast, a titanium project near Pituffik in the northwest and its Disko-Nuussuaq project in the southwest.
Underlining the resource potential in the territory, McIllree said the firm’s Disko project could be one of the largest occurrences of nickel and copper on the planet.
“Greenland is going to become more and more topical; it is going to become more and more front and center because of the climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion and the geopolitical discussion. And its proximity to the U.S. really kind of makes it a natural jurisdiction for significant U.S. investment,” McIllree said.
“If Greenland play their cards right, this will lead to their independence,” he added.
‘Significant strategic interest’
In March last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Nuuk, Greenland to inaugurate an EU office in the island’s capital.
The move, which came several months before Donald Trump Jnr.’s recent trip to the same city, was designed to firm up Europe’s presence in the territory as well as the broader Arctic region.
Von der Leyen announced two cooperation agreements totaling almost 94 million euros ($95.9 million) at the time, which she said would be used to invest in clean energy, critical raw materials and skills in Greenland.
(L-R) President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B Egede and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sign an agreement on the opening of the European Commission’s new office in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2024.
Leiff Josefsen | Afp | Getty Images
“I’m a geologist by background and I know that Greenland is very well endowed with natural resources,” Paul Lusty, head of battery raw materials research at Fastmarkets, told CNBC via video call.
“There has been a lot of interest in rare earths in Greenland, for example, and clearly, they can be of significant strategic interest to the U.S.,” Lusty said.
Hot on the heels of Kia being added to Tesla’s “coming soon” page for Supercharger access, we’re now learning that Supercharger support won’t actually come nearly as soon as expected for Kia – with a delay of weeks or months before Kia owners can plug in at North America’s largest fast charging network.
Earlier today, Kia and several other brands were added to Tesla’s coming soon page, suggesting that access could be imminent.
This squared with a previous September announcement that access would come in January – with a planned date of January 15, just two days away from now.
But today, PC Magazine reported that Kia’s access will be delayed to sometime in Spring.
Specifically, Kia has updated a press release on its website which previously stated a launch date of January 15. The press release now says “Access to the DC fast chargers is planned for the first quarter of 2025.”
That means it could be any time in the next three months, assuming there are no further delays.
PC Magazine quoted James Bell, Kia’s head of PR, as stating that “a delay has occurred and we are working with the appropriate teams to confirm new availability/date.” We also reached out to Bell to see if we could get any more information, but hadn’t heard back as of press time.
It’s unclear whether this delay will affect other brands, like Hyundai and Genesis.
Kia and Hyundai (and Hyundai sub-brand Genesis) share a platform for their electric vehicles, and have been the first to offer vehicles with native NACS ports on 2025 models, as opposed to using adapters like all other brands have so far. Older Kia/Hyundai vehicles without a native NACS port will still be able to use an adapter once cars gain access to the network.
We reached out to Hyundai to find out whether they’ve been hit by the same delay, but haven’t heard back yet. We’ll update if we do.
In 2022, Tesla announced it would open its charging network, lured by big money promised in President Biden’s federal EV charging grants.
For a while it seemed like a bit of a hail mary, as many thought that most of the industry was already committed to the SAE CCS standard for fast charging.
But then, in 2023, Ford announced it would adopt Tesla’s “NACS” connector, and all the dominos started to fall. Soon enough, basically the entire industry had announced a shift to Tesla’s charging standard.
But these things take time, and the industry had to work on redesigning vehicles, building adapters, organizing software handshakes, and building out an official standard. Now, several brands can already use Superchargers, with more to come.
The rollout seemed to be slowing down for a time, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk abruptly fired the entire Supercharging team which had been responsible for successfully executing this coup that could see Tesla gaining a lasting lead in EV charging, with those firings causing total chaos and jeopardizing the transition.
Earlier today, when so many brands were added to the “coming soon” page, it seemed like perhaps the dust had settled on the chaotic charging situation caused my Musk’s instability. But perhaps this Kia news is indication that there’s still some trouble that needs to be worked through.
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The Biden administration awarded $635 million in EV charger grants just 10 days before Donald Trump takes office, leaving just $700,000 of the $2.5 billion from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law unallocated.
The grants from Biden’s zero-emission refueling infrastructure programs will fund 49 projects that will deploy more than 11,500 EV charging ports and alternative fuel infrastructure along corridors and in communities across 27 states, four federally recognized tribes, and the District of Columbia.
$368 million will be allocated for 42 projects that expand EV charging infrastructure within communities across the US, while $268 million will go toward seven projects that build out the national fast charging network along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors.
The grants, which were announced on Friday, are made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program and a 10% set-aside from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement, “These investments will help states and communities build out a network of EV chargers in the coming years so that one day, finding a charge on a road trip will be as easy as filling up at a gas station.”
There are currently nearly 70,000 public EV charging stations across the US, with over 197,000 charging ports, according to the DOE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. The Biden administration set a goal of building out 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030.
Since the election, the Biden administration has been rushing to distribute clean energy funding in response to Trump’s threats to claw it back. Once the funds are allocated, reclaiming them will be nearly impossible.
Read more: Wisconsin’s first 3 NEVI-funded EV fast charging stations are open
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