Tesla execs Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel depart as company announces steep layoffs

Tesla
executives
Drew
Baglino
and
Rohan
Patel
announced
Monday
they
are
leaving
the
electric
vehicle
maker
and
clean
energy
company.
CEO
Elon
Musk
thanked
both
departing
execs
on
X,
the
social
network
he
owns
and
runs
as
chief
technology
officer.

The
news
comes
after
Tesla
said
it
is

laying
off
more
than
10%
of
its
workforce.

Baglino
had
worked
with
Tesla
since
its
early
years,
starting
as
a
firmware
and
electrical
engineer
in
2006.
He
most
recently
reported
directly
to
Musk
as
the
company’s
senior
vice
president
for
powertrain
and
energy
engineering.

Patel
joined
Tesla
in
2016
after
working
as
a
senior
advisor
to
former
President
Barack
Obama
on
climate
and
energy
issues,
among
other
policy
matters.

Reuters
recently
reported
that
Tesla
has
set
aside
plans
to
make
a
more
affordable
new
EV
at
Musk’s
direction.
The
strategy
shift
includes
a
greater
focus
on
developing
a “robotaxi”
and
comes
amid
steep
competition
including
from
BYD
and
other
Chinese
automakers
with
more
affordable
electric
cars.

Patel
and
Baglino
had
been
deeply
involved
in
battery
and
vehicle
manufacturing,
related
policy,
and
turning
Tesla
into
a
multinational
EV
manufacturer.
They
were
less
involved
in
autonomous
vehicle
technology
at
Tesla. 

Baglino
wrote
in
a
post
on
X:

“I
made
the
difficult
decision
to
move
on
from
Tesla
after
18
years
yesterday.
I
am
so
thankful
to
have
worked
with
and
learned
from
the
countless
incredibly
talented
people
at
Tesla
over
the
years.
I
loved
tackling
nearly
every
problem
we
solved
as
a
team
and
feel
gratified
to
have
contributed
to
the
mission
of
accelerating
the
transition
to
sustainable
energy,
a
mission
that
I
am
quite
passionate
about.”

Musk
responded
on
the
platform, “Thanks
for
everything
you’ve
done
for
Tesla.
Few
have
contributed
as
much
as
you.”

As
of
Monday
morning,
Tesla
had
not
yet
updated
the “leadership”
information
on
its

corporate
webpage
to
reflect
Baglino’s
departure.

Patel
wrote
in
a
post
on
the
social
network, “The
past
8
years
at
Tesla
have
been
filled
with
every
emotion
—
but
the
feeling
I
have
today
is
utmost
gratitude,”
adding, “My
immigrant
parents
worked
their
asses
off
and
as
a
result
I’m
the
luckiest
dude.
Lucky
to
have
been
a
part
of

@BarackObama‘s
campaign/administration,
and
truly
honored
to
have
worked
at

@Tesla
to
positively
changing
multiple
industries.”

Musk
replied
to
Patel,
saying, “Thanks
for
everything
you’ve
done
for
Tesla.
Much
appreciated.”

The
CEO
also
said,
in
a
post
on
X
on
Monday, “About
every
5
years,
we
need
to
reorganize
and
streamline
the
company
for
the
next
phase
of
growth.”

Baglino
and
Patel
were
not
immediately
available
for
comment.