Tesla replaced laid off US workers with foreign workers using H-1B visas that Musk want to increase
Tesla has replaced some of its US employees who were let go as part of a big wave of layoffs earlier this year with foreign workers using H-1B visas, which CEO Elon Musk is now campaigning to increase.
Over the last week, Elon Musk has been promoting the increase of H-1B visas, which are used to bring foreign workers into the US for “specialty occupations.”
Qualified foreign workers need to be sponsored by a company to get the visa, which lasts three years, extendable to six years, after which the holder needs to reapply.
The visa holder must maintain employment at the visa sponsor to retain the work visa. The worker would have to leave the country if the employment ends for whatever reason. This has led to some criticism as it gives tremendous power to the employer and can lead to a modern version of indentured servitude.
While there are obvious benefits to bringing skilled workers into the US, people are divided on the issue because those workers are often paid less than US workers, putting negative pressure on compensation, especially in the tech industry, on top of the moral questions about holding visas over the heads of foreign workers.
That’s why the US Congress has mandated a 65,000 visa cap limiting the number of H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year, plus an extra 20,000 for foreign people coming out of graduate programs at US universities.
Tesla has been a big user of those visas, and its CEO, Elon Musk, has been using his newfound political influence to promote increasing the cap of H-1B visas. He received significant pushback from his new friends on the right side of the political spectrum in the US, who see this visa as being used to steal jobs from Americans.
He is quite passionate about the issue, to say the least:
To be fair, Musk didn’t come to the US on a H-1B visa. He came on a student visa, and later, his own brother admitted that they were illegal immigrants in the early days of launching their Zip2 startup in the US.
Tesla’s use of H-1B visas
Over the last few days, several current and former Tesla workers reached out to Electrek to reveal that Tesla ramped up its use of H-1B visas to replace US workers it let go during a wave of layoffs earlier this year.
We reported that roughly US 15,000 employees were let go at Tesla around April 2024. Every department was affected, but the layoffs were concentrated in Texas and California, where Tesla has more workers than anywhere else.
Current and former Tesla employees said that many of the laid-off US workers were replaced by foreign workers using H-1B visas.
These claims are backed by US Department of Labor data, which show that Tesla requested over 2,000 H-1B visas during the time it was laying off US workers (via Reddit):
Again, there’s a cap of 65,000 visas for the entire US annually, and Tesla alone tried to get over 3% of them.
Tesla workers said that many employees let go were more senior engineers with higher compensation and they have been replaced with junior engineers from foreign countries at a lower pay.
Electrek’s Take
To be clear, I’m not taking a stance on H-1B here. It seems like there should be good uses for this visa, but it certainly can be abused. My goal is to share more information that could explain why Elon would want more of this visa for his businesses, and maybe not for the right reasons.
At the core, people see the problem of hiring workers from other countries who are willing to work for lower pay than US workers – taking jobs from Americans and putting pressure on overall compensation in the US.
There’s certainly value to the argument. Elon’s counterargument is that the US doesn’t have enough skilled workers, and he needs to hire people from other countries to compensate.
This argument also has some value, especially for specific sectors, like manufacturing engineering, which has become less popular in the US.
However, at Tesla and with Elon, the problem is much deeper than this.
The problem stems from the employer’s weight over the workers as a sponsor of their visas. Elon is famously hard on workers, and he doesn’t like the traditional 40-hour workweek. He often pushes Tesla employees to work 60 to 80 hours per week.
Many Tesla employees have happily done this for years, and the main motivator has been the belief in Tesla’s mission to accelerate the advent of electric transport in order to curb climate change.
Some people still believe in this mission, but Elon has eroded it over the last few years by shifting focus on self-driving and advocating for removing EV incentives in the US. It is becoming harder to make people believe that Tesla’s main goal is to accelerate the advent of EVs when its CEO is talking more about Tesla becoming “the most valuable company in the world” than its impact on climate change. And let’s not forget that he has spent a tremendous amount of effort and money over the last year to get deniers of the human impact on climate change elected.
But he has found another effective way to motivate workers to work harder and for longer hours: hold a visa over their head.
The nature of the H-1B visa being attached to your employer puts tremendous pressure on the workers.
On top of it, Tesla, like many other companies using H-1B visas, tends to hire from countries where longer workweek are already the norm. For example, India is already mostly on a 6-day workweek.
I don’t like to Tesla workers killing themselves working 80 hours per week, but if they do it passionately, by choice, for what they believe to be a great mission, it’s hard to argue against that. It’s their choice.
But if they do it because they want the “American dream” and they are afraid that getting let go will kill or slow down their chance of immigrating because they are in the country on a H-1B visa, that feels like exploitation to me.
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London-based Rho Motion just dropped the latest numbers on global EV sales for January 2025, and here’s the headline: 1.3 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide. That’s down by more than a third from December’s record-breaking numbers, but don’t let that fool you – January 2025 still saw an 18% jump compared to the same month last year.
The global picture
Global EV sales are off to a solid, if not spectacular, start in January 2025. While China’s numbers took a predictable dip post-holiday rush, Europe is picking up steam, and North America is seeing steady growth. Here’s how the major markets shook out in January:
- Global: 1.3 million EVs sold (+18% year-over-year, -35% from December 2024)
- China: 0.7 million (+12% y-o-y, -43% m-o-m)
- EU, EFTA & UK: 0.25 million (+21% y-o-y, -19% m-o-m)
- US & Canada: 0.13 million (+22% y-o-y, -28% m-o-m)
- Rest of the world: 0.13 million (+50% y-o-y, -4% m-o-m)
Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester weighed in on what’s behind these numbers:
With emission standards coming into force for European manufacturers this year, all eyes are on the opening month for the region, which shows encouraging growth at 21% compared to the same time last year.
The Chinese market, as expected, shrunk 43% from the previous month as drivers tend to go all in at the end of the year before the Chinese New Year public holidays fall in January and February.
The US and Canada market hasn’t yet been impacted by the new occupant of the White House and is showing a consistent year-on-year increase of 22%. All in all, an uncontroversial start to the year for the EV market globally, though this is not going to remain that way for long.
Europe: A strong start, but challenges ahead
The EU, EFTA, and the UK kicked off the year with a solid 21% increase, selling over 250,000 EVs in January. That’s the kind of momentum European automakers need to keep up to avoid hefty fines under the 2025 emission standards.
Germany led the charge, with EV sales jumping over 40% year-over-year, and BEVs specifically saw over 50% growth. But not every country had a smooth start. France, for example, took a big hit, with sales dropping 52% compared to December and 15% year-over-year. The reason was a new weight tax on plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) that went into effect in January, triggering a rush to buy in December before the new rules kicked in.
China: A predictable dip, but still growing
China’s EV sales were up 12% compared to last January, thanks in part to the ongoing national car trade-in scheme. However, sales dropped 43% compared to December, which is typical for this time of year. The Chinese New Year holiday always slows down vehicle sales in January and February, and with the holiday falling mostly in February this year (just like in 2024), expect another weak month before numbers pick up again.
US & Canada: A steady climb with uncertainty ahead
North America saw a solid 22% jump in EV sales compared to January 2024, with 130,000 units sold. However, that’s still a 28% drop from the December 2024 rush.
Despite concerns over Trump’s return to the White House, the federal EV tax credit – up to $7,500 – is still available for many BEVs and one PHEV. However, the requirements got tougher in 2025, with stricter sourcing rules for critical EV battery materials. Some EV models lost their eligibility, and that’s expected to put some pressure on the market as the year unfolds.
Read more: BYD’s overseas sales surged to a new record as its global EV plans kick into high gear
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Kia’s electric sports car will smoke a Ferrari and Lamborghini off the line, and it’s already less than half the cost. Now, Kia’s 576 horsepower EV6 GT is even cheaper to drive with nearly $20,000 in lease savings. Here’s how you can get your hands on one.
The EV6 GT arrived in 2022 as the “most powerful Kia production vehicle ever.” With up to 576 horsepower, Kia’s electric sports car can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds.
Kia went all out, adding fun features and different drive modes, such as “GT” and “drift.” The GT drive mode adjusts the vehicle’s motor, brakes, steering, suspension, and more for better performance.
To prove its power, Kia put its EV sports car up against a Ferrari Roma and Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder. Certified by an independent test from AMCI, the Kia EV6 GT beat both off the line. Not only is the Kia faster, but it’s also about half the cost.
The 2024 Kia EV6 GT starts at $61,600. A 2024 Ferrari Roma will run you about $245,000, while a new 2024 Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder starts at just over $300,000.
According to online car research firm CarsDirect, the 2024 Kia EV6 GT now features $19,050 in lease cash (24-month lease). With the option of Single Pay leases, you can also score lower lease rates.
If you’re looking for something with a little less performance (and a lower price), Kia is offering $10,000 in Customer Cash on all 2024 EV6 models. The EV6 Light Long Range RWD ($45,950 MSRP) is listed for lease at just $179 for 24 months, with $3,499 due upfront.
The discounts come with the new 2025 model year arriving, which has an even longer driving range (319 miles Kia-est) and an NACS port for charging at Tesla Superchargers. The new EV6 GT trim will also pull additional features from Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 N, including a Virtual Gear Shift (VGS) function.
Want to get behind the wheel of Kia’s electric sports car and test it out for yourself? You can use our link to find the best deals on the 2024 Kia EV6 (including the GT model) near you.
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