A long-time Tesla engineer announced his departure from the company, citing Elon Musk as the primary reason for quitting. In his public exit letter, he decided to expose the CEO’s betrayal of Tesla’s mission.
Giorgio Balestrieri spent the last 8 years at Tesla.
He spent most of his time as a data analyst in the energy storage division and then as an algorithm engineer working on Autobidder, Tesla’s real-time trading and control platform for energy assets.
During his tenure, Balestrieri helped accelerate the deployment of energy storage from its infancy to its current status as a significant piece of the energy transition puzzle.
Today, he announced his departure from Tesla.
In an exit letter made public on LinkedIn, Balestrieri thanked his colleagues and congratulated them on all the progress they accomplished together over the years.
In the letter, the engineer was not shy about stating “the main reason” why he was leaving: Elon Musk.
Balestrieri explained that he believes the CEO has failed Tesla’s mission:
All this being said, I do need to address the elephant in the room: the main reason I’m leaving is that I think Elon has dealt huge damage to Tesla’s mission (and to the health of democratic institutions in several countries). Beyond that, Elon’s leadership and decision making seem seriously compromised. Given his huge (and growing, inexplicably) stake in Tesla, I can’t convince myself anymore that this is the right place to be. This is not just about politics: it’s about lying to the public, manipulating public discourse, targeting minorities and supporting climate change deniers and political forces aligned with the oil and gas industry. I think it’s fairly indisputable that the current US administration is slowing down the energy transition. Unfortunately, speed is critical if we are to avert the worst consequences of climate change.
You can read the full letter here.
Electrek’s Take
Good for him. I share the sentiment.
I don’t blame anyone working at Tesla. Like Balestrieri, you can have a meaningful job at Tesla that still contributes to the mission to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable economy.
Top comment by Tom D
Good for him. I recognize that it is a scary thing for most people to leave a job, but he is absolutely right that Elon Musk is betraying what had been the declared mission of Tesla. And not just in the ways that he listed, but also in the fact that under Musk Tesla is increasingly neglecting its core business of designing, building, and selling electric cars in favor of chasing after Musk's delusional visions on robotics, AI, and self-driving cars.
However, it can be frustrating when the CEO takes clear actions against the mission on a large scale, such as funding climate change-denying politicians who are implementing policies that are now slowing the deployment of renewable energy and the electric transport transition.
For many people who joined Tesla for the mission, seemingly like Balestrieri, it can feel counterproductive.
I think it’s clear that it is contributing to the significant talent exodus we have been seeing at Tesla over the last two years.
Musk’s leadership is not what it used to be.
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