meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
WSJ Tech News Briefing

Tesla’s Supercharger Layoffs Could Ripple Across the EV Industry

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

Tech News, News

4.31.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

EV maker Tesla announced this week that it was laying off much of the team responsible for the company’s Supercharger network, the largest and most successful EV charging network in the U.S. The move caught employees, and others in the industry, by surprise. WSJ reporter Ryan Felton tells host Alex Ossola what a Tesla pullback in charging could mean for the broader U.S. EV market. Plus, how did an iPhone survive a fall out of an airplane, but others crack when they get tipped off the kitchen counter? WSJ senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern took on an experiment to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Done I'm Scott my bedroom thriving now it's

0:06.5

to losing with style my bedside tables are trend defining.

0:14.0

The drawers just glide in.

0:18.0

Find wardrobes and bedside tables from 59 pounds in hundreds of styles and designs and everything you want all under

0:24.5

one roof at Dunelm, the Home of Homes. Shop in store and online today.

0:28.6

Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Friday, May 3rd. I'm Alex Osila for the Wall Street Journal.

0:40.0

Coming up on today's show, how high a drop can a smartphone survive?

0:44.0

W.S.J. Senior Personal Technology columnist Joanna Stern took on an experiment to test

0:49.8

smartphone durability, and she joins us to talk about the surprising results.

0:54.7

And then, this week, Tesla laid off much of the team behind its supercharger network.

0:59.7

We'll hear about what this means for the industry and the future adoption of electric vehicles from

1:04.3

W.S.J. reporter Ryan Felton.

1:09.6

But first, back in January, the door plug of an emergency exit on an Alaska Airlines flight blew out mid-flight at 16,000 feet.

1:17.5

A few things were sucked out, a passenger shirt, a teddy bear, and an iPhone.

1:23.1

Amazingly, someone in Portland, Oregon

1:25.4

found that iPhone, which was on and still working.

1:28.5

So how did the phone survive a fall from a plane?

1:31.4

Especially when falls from your kitchen counter, make phones crack and break.

1:35.2

W.S.J. Senior Personal Technology columnist Joanna Stern took on an experiment to answer this question.

1:41.6

And she joins us now. Joanna generally what have

1:44.4

smartphone makers said about durability do we have any kind of baseline for

1:48.2

this? Over the years Apple, Samsung all the major phone makers have talked about improved durability to the

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.