Uber has snapped up Tesla’s former head of charging, Rebecca Tinucci, who was fired by Elon Musk, along with her entire team, a few months ago.
Rebecca Tinucci deserves a significant part of the credit for Tesla’s incredible deployment of charging infrastructure through several leading roles in the team over the last 6 years, including as head of the charging team for the last two.
Her team built undoubtedly the best and most extensive DC fast-charging network in the world.
This is why it was surprising to see CEO Elon Musk fire her and her entire 500-person team earlier this year.
As we reported, the story behind her firing was that Musk asked her to fire a certain percentage of her staff as part of broader layoffs across Tesla. She complied, but then Musk asked for further layoffs, which she pushed back against as she didn’t believe she could deliver on the charging goals without her full team at this point.
Instead of simply firing her and replacing her with someone who could follow through with the layoffs, Musk decided to fire her entire team. The company ended up having to rehire some of the former team members.
Now, we learn that Uber has hired Tinucci to lead the electrification of its ride-hailing fleet, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
Uber is trying to completely electrify its global fleet by 2040 through many different programs to incentivize its drivers to go electric and the deployment of charging stations.
In fact, Tesla was working directly with Uber in New York City to help improve the charging infrastructure and support the growing local electric ride-hailing fleet.
We have previously reported on other companies taking advantage of Tesla’s firing its entire charging team to acquire some new talent, including New York’s Revel, which has now partnered with Uber on charging infrastructure in New York City.