Elon Musk has announced an investment of 500 million dollars (463.8 million euros) to expand Tesla’s supercharger network just a week after laying off nearly 500 employees working in this division. “Tesla will spend more than 500 million dollars (463.8 million euros) expanding our Supercharger network,” Elon Musk emphasized on his personal X account (formerly Twitter) this Friday, adding that the investment will only be in “new points and extensions, not including operating costs, which are much higher.”
Ten days ago, Musk posted that the company planned to add chargers at a slower pace and focus more on uptime and existing locations than on organic business creation. However, laying off the entire staff overnight has had a collateral effect benefiting oil companies looking to electrify their fleet.
Among the examples, BP has seen Tesla’s business weakness as an opportunity to take over the abandoned fast charging facilities that interest them most.
The American Revel is also willing to use Tesla’s abandoned superchargers, in this case, in New York, while considering building their own charging stations at sites that already have renewable energy.
The South African entrepreneur’s change of heart is reminiscent of when the CEO abruptly announced in early 2019 that Tesla would close most of its stores and move sales almost entirely online.
Ten days later, after owners refused to let the company break their lease contracts, Musk backtracked and announced that Tesla would raise vehicle prices.
