When Tesla’s mercurial leader fired the company’s entire 500-person Supercharging team a few months ago, EV pundits predicted that most of these highly-skilled pros would soon be snapped up by other companies. In the event, some were rehired by Tesla, and others have moved on to greener pastures, including seven-year Tesla veteran Edward Noseworthy, who joined New York-based rideshare/charging provider Revel in May.
Now Bloomberg reports that Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s former Head of Charging, has joined rideshare giant Uber, and will lead the electrification of the company’s ride-hailing fleet.
Ms. Tinucci served in several leading roles in Tesla’s charging team over the last six years, and led the team for the last two. Tinucci’s team built a global DC fast charging network that is widely considered to be the gold standard for public charging. Tinucci oversaw the opening of Tesla’s formerly walled garden to non-Tesla EV drivers, negotiating deals with carmakers such as Rivian, Ford and GM.
In her new role as Uber’s Global Head of Sustainability, Tinucci will oversee the company’s transition to a zero-emissions platform, Bloomberg reports. Uber aims to make all of its rides and deliveries with zero-emission vehicles by 2040. In Q1 2024, Uber said 8.2% of rideshare miles in the US and Canada, and 9% in Europe, were driven in zero-emission vehicles.
Uber recently led a $6.5-million seed round for itselectric, a Brooklyn-based startup that’s getting ready to scale up its innovative curbside charging system. Curbside charging promises to solve the problem of urban dwellers who are unable to install EV chargers at home—and to be mighty handy for rideshare drivers as well.
Tinucci’s experience “will be an incredible asset to our team at Uber,” Andrew Macdonald, the exec in charge of the company’s ride-hailing business and Tinucci’s new boss, said in a message to employees.
“Electric vehicles, autonomy and robotics hold the potential to substantially reduce our collective emissions,” Tinucci said. “Uber is poised to be an accelerator in this transition.”
