Thanks to Elon Musk, the “single greatest talent acquisition opportunity in the industry” fell right into the lap of Aaron and Stephanie Luque—and they weren’t about to let the opportunity pass them by.
When the couple first founded their Georgia-based EV infrastructure company, EnviroSpark Energy Solutions, Aaron would go to their local Tesla showroom in Atlanta, hoping to get work setting up home charging for new customers.
Now, Musk’s carmaker would once again help EnviroSpark by sacking its entire Supercharger team just when the husband-and-wife duo was desperate for new workers.
“The day before we had closed the biggest raise in the company’s history, $50 million,” remembers Luque, telling Fortune the task of recruiting to fill all the headcount they needed appeared daunting.
When he learned of Tesla's bloodbath, he was shocked.
Access to the vast and reliable network of Superchargers—with its seamless integration and premium charging experience—was one of the most potent arguments why customers should buy Musk’s cars rather than a competitor’s.
On a private level, it was also tough because Luque had counted many employees as his friends.
“Every single person that I ever knew or loved at Tesla had been let go. They shared the same mission as us, they lived and breathed EV charging,” he adds.
One of those was George Bahadue, formerly senior manager for site acquisition and business development at Tesla.
“To my network, you've hit the jackpot—Tesla charging employees are a special breed, resilient and the best in the business. I highly encourage you to consider them as you build your teams and carry on the charging mission,” he posted to LinkedIn earlier this month.
Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024
Quick-thinking founders seize the moment
Luque’s wife seized the moment—reaching out to Bahadue on LinkedIn to say EnviroSpark was hiring for multiple roles and setting up an email hotline for Tesla employees.
The EnviroSpark homepage also added a pop-up banner urging former Tesla Supercharger staff to apply for their open positions.
According to Aaron, the company's CEO, over 100 resumes have been received since then. Given that the Tesla team only numbered around 500 globally, that’s a pretty good batting average for the quick-thinking duo.
The first major talent acquisition is already in the bank.
Joe Williams said he was genuinely at a loss for words when he lost his job as Tesla’s Southeast Supercharging lead, based in EnviroSpark’s hometown of Atlanta.
Only two weeks later, he was “beyond thankful” after being named EnviroSpark's new senior vice president of business development.
Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2024
That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher.
In Aaron Luque's mind, it’s the closest thing to a win-win situation, given the circumstances.
Musk gets his layoffs, their company can grow, and a number of talented employees can land on their feet. Even Tesla won’t suffer since the company is so far ahead when it comes to the Supercharger network that there is no threat in sight.
According to figures from the website EVAdoption, Tesla operates over 12,580 fast charging ports across well over 1,000 locations in the United States, compared to number two Electrify America, which has just 3,112 ports.
“Anybody looking to scale something that would be able to compete with Tesla, it would take a significant amount of time to catch up, and they would be able to see that coming in advance and adjust accordingly,” Aaron Luque says.
No need to replace every gas station with fast chargers
EnviroSpark isn’t looking to take on Tesla directly, either.
In fact, Aaron Luque is likely to agree with Musk to a degree since the former is convinced that replacing every gas station with fast chargers is for birds.
That’s because EV owners plug in when they get home in the evening and wake up to a full battery.
Luque argues that rolling out the far less expensive slow chargers in apartment complexes and other multi-unit housing, where the true gap in charging infrastructure can be found, is the real value to be had.
Not only would the added convenience spur EV adoption, as owners would no longer need to drive to a fast charger, but it would also benefit utilities. That is because it shifts the load away from daylight hours to off-peak nighttime charging, which puts less strain on the grid.
But Musk’s decision to release all of Tesla’s charging talent into the wild in one fell swoop did come with some downsides for Luque.
EnviroSpark's work for Tesla has ground to a halt, confirming other similar instances reported in the press.
“We had 26 open projects with Tesla at the time this happened, and we’ve received no communication since then about what we need to be doing,” he says.
"We’re in a holding pattern until somebody takes over there.”
https://t.co/ozSpnbnch8 pic.twitter.com/EEJOX0Cakv
— simon sidespin 🇺🇦🇫🇮 (@SSidespin) May 14, 2024
Given the chaos, it’s perhaps no surprise that Musk is hiring back a number of his previous Supercharging staff before companies like EnviroSpark offer them gainful employment elsewhere.
Bloomberg learned that Tesla’s CEO has already convinced its former North America director of charging, Max de Zegher, to return.
Amid blowback, Musk forced to walk back his hardline stance
Speculation as to why Musk sacked his senior director for charging Rebecca Tinucci in the first place has centered around reports she had pushed back against deeper cuts.
Tesla watchers reason that, on the warpath, Musk decided to make an example of her and everyone who worked for her.
Tesla couldn’t be reached for comment, as Musk fired everyone in his public relations team years ago.
However, the speculation around Tinucci's departure seems plausible as the leaked email announcing her exit explicitly warned managers not to disappoint regarding radical headcount reductions.
Following the subsequent blowback among worried Tesla owners, Musk last week began walking back comments made in the immediate aftermath of the team’s sacking—ones in which he stated Tesla would now slow the expansion of its charging footprint and concentrate on existing locations.
Just started a Supercharger Community
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2024
https://t.co/o5QSGCfrp3
First, the Tesla CEO promised to invest well over $500 million in the network that would add thousands of new charge ports before then launching a new Supercharger community on his social media platform X as a show of support.
For EnviroSpark, Musk’s sudden layoffs came at the perfect moment.
Now that the company has the means to grow its business, the Luques' biggest challenge is how to fill all the headcount it needs.
“I honestly believe the timing could not have been any better,” Aaron Luque says.
"Right after we closed a financing round that gave us the resources, the very next day, the single greatest talent acquisition opportunity in the industry opens up.”
As his brand new SVP for business development will attest, some sad stories do have a happy ending.
