New Tesla Superchargers in Australia scrapped – report
After the team behind Tesla's Supercharger network was disbanded last week, work on new charging locations in Australia has reportedly stopped.
Tesla has reportedly slammed the brakes on construction of new Superchargers in Australia after the team behind the global fast-charging network was said to have been laid off in the US last week.
Technology website EFTM claims a Victorian business preparing to add four Tesla Supercharger stations in its car park has been told work on the location, as well as others, has stopped.
It follows reports last week that the Tesla Supercharger development team in the US has been disbanded – and employees laid off – though it has been suggested there are still engineers employed to work on existing charging locations.
EFTM says it has seen an email sent by a "legal representative" for a business in "regional Victoria" to its general manager advising of a voicemail from a Tesla representative in Australia claiming "there will be no more" new Supercharger locations.
It is unclear if work has ceased on all new Tesla Supercharger locations globally – or just in Australia.
CEO Elon Musk said on X (formerly Twitter) hours after last week's reports that Tesla "still plans to grow the Supercharger network," but it would occur at "a slower pace for new locations" to place "more focus on 100 [per cent] uptime and expansion of existing locations."
"[Supercharger] sites under construction will be completed and we will add additional Superchargers anywhere where there are gaps," Musk said.
It is possible there may not be any new Superchargers in Australia, but new locations could appear in the US and Europe where there are more Teslas on the road – or in new countries where the US car giant is starting to sell vehicles.
"I have just received a voicemail from (name redacted at staff request) at Tesla advising that the Tesla Supercharger team has been dissolved globally and there will be no more supercharger sites moving forward," the email reads, as quoted by EFTM.
"I’ve just spoken to (Tesla staff member) and he has expressed his disappointment and was certainly caught by surprise – as were the rest of the Tesla Supercharging teams. He also said he expects his email to be deactivated within the next 24 hours.
"Happy to chat if you have any queries but safe to say this matter probably won’t be going any further," the email to the business' general manager is said to have read.
EFTM does not name the business – at its request – but says it operates a large car park "which was due to include a four-bay Tesla Supercharger."
The technology website says it has seen the licence agreement for the cancelled Supercharger location, which specified a five-year initial term "with the option for Tesla to extend twice by five years," according to the outlet.
Drive has approached Tesla Australia for comment, and will update this story if a response is received.
Reports of the Tesla Supercharger team's dissolution have caught industry analysts by surprise, given the network was tipped to be a lucrative future source of revenue for the US car giant as it opens the network to electric vehicles from other brands globally.
Over the past 12 months, most car makers in the US have announced plans to adopt the bespoke charging plug used on Teslas in North America – known as NACS – to gain easy access to the Supercharger network.
Superchargers – the first of which opened in the US in 2012, to support the then-new Model S electric sedan – are considered to be more reliable and widespread than other charging networks.
There are now more than 50,000 Supercharger stalls globally – though there are fewer total locations, as most have multiple charging stalls – and it is the world's largest electric-car charging networks.
For context, Europe's Ionity network claims 3718 fast-charging points – over 624 locations – while Electrify America quotes 3892 fast-charging plugs, plus 111 slower 'destination' charging points, across 878 locations.
A source reportedly told news agency Bloomberg last week "there are already discussions about rehiring some of those affected in order to operate the existing network and grow it at a much slower rate."
It says it has been told "some of the Supercharger servicing team" that manages access to the network by other car companies "remains intact".
