For years, Tesla has been a popular provider of electric vehicles that many have praised for both style and function. However, the company is currently facing difficulties. Public opinion has shifted, as evidenced by a wave of vandalism targeting Tesla EVs and charging stations; and within the company, morale is low and staff turnover is high after layoffs last year, as Electrek reported.
Among the Tesla employees to seek greener pastures in recent months are top designers David Imai and Bernard Lee.
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Cost 💰 What's happening?
Lee departed Tesla in November after a successful 16-year career with the company (with a brief break from 2018 to 2020 to teach at the Art Center College of Design in California). He was a founding member of the company, coming over to Tesla from Mazda in 2008 with chief designer Franz von Holzhausen. Lee was credited as a supporting, senior, or principal designer in 11 Tesla models.
Imai left in February, 14 years after his 2011 arrival at Tesla. He rose through the ranks from being a car designer through to several senior positions, eventually becoming the company's director of design in 2019. He's been credited with several major design aspects of the Model 3.
On LinkedIn, Imai announced, "I'm pleased to announce that I'll be joining Arc Boats later this month as chief designer. In this new role, I hope to bring my experience, leadership, and passion for design to help Arc reach new horizons."
Why are these departures from Tesla important?
As Electrek reported, Tesla is currently seeing an exodus of talented contributors. After layoffs at the company, it seems many employees are looking for a safer option.
That could have an impact on the company's operations, which might make it that much harder for buyers to make their next car an EV. That's a problem because traditional cars burning dirty fuel are a major source of heat-trapping air pollution, and the world is warming up out of control. Switching to EVs is a crucial step in cooling the world down.
What can I do to promote EV use?
Besides looking into an EV for yourself, you can talk to family and friends about the importance of clean air for our future. You can also look for opportunities to vote for pro-climate candidates and policies that will make it easier to drive an EV.
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