Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Thursday slammed rumors on the death of its supercharger network as “greatly exaggerated.”
What Happened: “Our supercharger network is continuing to grow,” Musk said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. “Rumors of the death of the supercharger are greatly exaggerated.”
The company is continuing to grow its supercharger network while keeping an eye on capital efficiency and the places they are deployed, Musk said while adding that the company will deploy more “working” superchargers this year than the rest of the industry combined.
Tesla will invest $500 million in expanding the network this year, Musk said, reiterating his investment goal from last month.
Opening Network To Rivals: At the end of the first quarter, Tesla had 57,579 Supercharger connectors and 6,249 stations around the globe. The company also started opening its supercharger network in North America to rival EV makers including Ford and Rivian in the first three months.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview earlier this month that it has received 100,000 applications for the adapters needed to charge on the supercharger network but has only shipped a few thousand thus far. The company still has about 90,000 applications to satisfy, he said.
Regarding its decision to open its supercharger to rivals, Musk said on Thursday that Tesla wants to be helpful to rival automakers venturing into EVs. “We think it’s better to do that than to create a walled garden that inhibits EV growth,” he said.
Why It Matters: The rumors Musk referred to at the meeting emerged after Tesla laid off about 500 people from its supercharging team and reassigned a few others in April. Tesla’s Senior Director of Charging Infrastructure Rebecca Tinucci also left the company following Tesla’s decision to lay off at least 14,000 of its global workforce.
But contradicting the rumors, Tesla continues to stick to its previously announced timeline of Spring 2024 for opening its supercharger network to rivals including Volvo, General Motors, and Polestar.
In May, Musk also said that the focus going forward will be on 100% uptime of the network and expanding existing locations. "Sites under construction will be completed and we will add additional Superchargers anywhere where there are gaps," Musk wrote. Tesla’s supercharger network currently has an uptime of nearly 99%.
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