Musk pledges to grow supercharger business he decimated

Elon Musk touted plans Friday to expand Tesla Inc.’s Supercharger network just over a week after firing almost all of the roughly 500 people who ran the business.

Tesla will spend “well over” $500 million on growing its network this year, Musk said on X, the social media network he owns. Ten days ago, the automaker’s chief executive officer wrote that Tesla planned to add chargers at a slower pace and focus more on uptime and existing locations.

Musk hasn’t offered specifics on how the charging business will operate after he dismissed its senior director and virtually everyone working under her late last month. The move came as a shock to customers and other carmakers that are starting to use its plugs.

Executives for manufacturers that signed agreements just last year to access Tesla’s Superchargers say they’ve been unable to reach representatives for the Austin-based company.

While Tesla provides quarterly updates on the number of Supercharger stations and connectors, it hasn’t regularly shared information on how much it’s spent on the network. It’s unclear how the more than $500 million expense Musk referred to compares to past investment. He didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.