Tesla battery and public policy heads leave before Robotaxi unveil as layoffs save it $500 million

Tesla will need a big federal regulations push for the Robotaxi after its announcement that Elon Musk has pegged for August 8.

That push, however, won't come courtesy of its current VP of Public Policy Rohan Patel, who is leaving Tesla, or is being laid off in a round that includes about 14,000 other Tesla employees.

As part of Elon Musk's "restructuring," a high profile member of the original Tesla exec team - Drew Baglino - is also leaving the company. As head of the powertrain and battery division, Drew would've been in charge of the incremental 4680 battery rollouts, as well as Tesla's plans to bring LFP cell manufacturing to the US and take full advantage of the federal tax credits.

The speed or deliverables of these powertrain and regulatory projects have seemingly not been to Elon Musk's liking, as both execs say they are leaving to spend more time with their families instead of announcing new positions or companies.

Tesla's CEO acknowledged their contribution under their resignation posts on X, as Rohan thanked Musk "for giving me the chance and empowering me to lead big initiatives at the company."

In any case, by firing 10% of its workforce, Tesla will be saving around half a billion dollars according to analyst calculations, which should reflect favorably on its financials ahead of what is expected to be an abysmal earnings report.

Still, Tesla has doubled its employees since 2020 to more than 140,000. With the gradual ramp of the Cybertruck and no new vehicle or refresh expected in 2024 but a Model 3 Ludicrous, cutting 14,000 employees sound like the prudent thing to do from a business perspective.

According to Elon Musk, "about every 5 years, we need to reorganize and streamline the company for the next phase of growth," though it remains to be seen where that next phase of growth will come from now that Tesla may go with a harder to pull off Robotaxi before a mass market Model 2.

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