Tesla’s long-term plans for its industry-leading Supercharger stations in Australia remain under a cloud, despite work continuing on its immediate projects.
Last week, Australian technology publication EFTM reported the rollout of more Tesla Superchargers across the country had been paused indefinitely.
This followed the mass layoffs to the brand’s global electric vehicle (EV) charging department late last month.
In an email sent to Australian owners on Friday, the EV giant told its customers: “The Supercharger network will continue to be expanded,” and “projects currently in construction are continuing to be completed and put into operation”.
In the short term, Tesla says it’ll continue maintaining its Australian chargers, telling owners: “Customer experience for charging continues to be a top priority for the Supercharger network and we continue to focus on the ease of charging, competitive pricing and investing in the charging experience holistically”.
While participation in the NSW Fast Charging Grant Program and QLD Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Scheme will continue, Tesla didn’t detail its plans to establish any more Supercharger stations in the long-term.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also sought to clarify the brand’s position on its Supercharger networks globally, telling his followers on social media platform X – formerly Twitter, and which he owns – the company continues to invest in EV charging technology.
“Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over [US]$500M (A$757 million) expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year,” Mr Musk posted.
“That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher.”
His comments appear to back previous reports which suggested Rebecca Tinucci, the former head of Tesla’s Supercharger division, was fired along with the entire department of approximately 500 staff members after allegedly pushing back against a headcount reduction.
Tesla was one of the pioneers in delivering fast EV chargers, with its Superchargers often located in high-demand locations or along major roads to provide greater choice to its users.
While Tesla’s Supercharger network was previously reserved for its own cars, the company has slowly made more of its Australian chargers available to other EV brands.
As of August 2023, 30 of the 63 Supercharger stations in Australia could be used to charge non-Tesla EVs. It’s not yet known whether the paused charger rollout will result in a stop to this access expansion.
At present, its fastest ‘V3’ and ‘V4’ Superchargers can deliver up to 250kW of DC power, which is less than the ultra-rapid chargers operated by Evie and Chargefox, but more than what most EVs can accept.
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