Industry leaders attending Electric Autonomy’s EV & Charging Expo weigh in on what Tesla’s surprise move to gut its Supercharging team might mean for the entire EV ecosystem 

“I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it.” 

“At first I thought it might have been a hoax.”  

“Tesla’s leadership in charging has been pulling us forward. What now?” 

It’s been less than 72 hours since word broke that Tesla is disbanding most or all of its Supercharging network team. Canada’s EV and charging community is still processing the news and its implications. But the comments above — shared by members of a panel of industry leaders at the EV & Charging Expo — are typical of the initial reactions. 

It’s not hard to understand why. Tesla’s Supercharging network is second to none in the EV charging space. It’s a massive competitive advantage that’s been a key driver of sales for the world’s largest EV maker. And in the past 18 months, Tesla’s charging technology — the North American Charging Standard (NACS) — has been embraced by every major EV manufacturer and charging equipment provider, at considerable expense, as an emerging standard for the industry. 

With details still emerging, Electric Autonomy invited a group of industry leaders attending the Expo to our main stage to reflect on what the Tesla Supercharging team cuts means and where the industry goes from here. 

You can watch the full discussion in the video player and read the summary below.

Watershed moment 

Along with shock, all said they were dealing with a lot of uncertainty. 

“It will be a watershed moment. But it’s way too early to say how it will go,” said Scott Sharabura, vice president of electric vehicle charging at Parkland Corp.  

Travis Allan, chief legal and public affairs officer at FLO, said it’s important to focus on what won’t change: “Tesla set a bar for quality charging deployment that we’ll continue to chase.” 

Like virtually all charging network providers, both Parkland and FLO are now committed to incorporating the NACS (or J3400) charging interface into their offerings. Allan says it’s a top priority to make sure that all charging providers and OEMs “remain on the same page.” 

Consultant James Carter, who heads Vision Mobility, said that recent standardization around the J3400 connector has been a “great thing” for advancing EV adoption. 

“My strong hope is we’ll stay with the J3400,” said Carter. 

Spillover impact of Tesla cuts

Sharabura said he’s also concerned that the uncertainty the industry is now dealing with might also have a spillover impact in the EV marketplace. 

“Given how prominent Tesla is in this space, a lack of commitment to the charging network… may actually lead some people to hold off on EV purchases until the industry figures this out,” he said. “It’s going to insert an element of doubt in people’s minds.” 

It’s not all doom and gloom, however.  

“As an industry, we need to pull together. We will fill the gaps. And we will recuperate some of the talent,” said Louise Lévesque, senior director of policy at Electric Mobility Canada. 

Where might all that Tesla talent go? Beyond close competitors in the industry, Allan said ex-Tesla people could be valuable hires for utilities as well as commercial real estate firms and other businesses just now getting into the charging space. 

All four panelists also agreed that a retreat by Tesla in the form of cuts to its Supercharging team puts greater onus on federal and provincial policy makers to do more to create the conditions for charging infrastructure growth. 

“The charging industry in Canada is bigger than Tesla,” said Sharabura. “We need to keep moving forward.”