Tesla has lost one of its top managers in Europe who is in charge of all business development and social policies.
He is one of two top Tesla executives to leave this week.
Jos Dings joined Tesla in 2017 after more than ten years at Transport & Environment (T&E), a European group promoting sustainable transport.
After several years in charge of Tesla's government affairs in Europe, Dings was promoted to Director of Public Policy and Business Development for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
He described his work on his LinkedIn:
Tesla EMEA lead public policy and business development team. We help accelerate the transition to sustainable energy by changing policy at national, EU and global (UN-ECE) level. Keywords, climate, energy, industrial policy, regulatory benefits and liabilities, car charging, electricity markets, trade, data, assisted and automated driving, safety, AI, circularity, government aid, permits, batteries and supply chains. We also help companies decide what, when and where to do our jobs, including our first European 'Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg'.
This week, Dings announced that he is leaving Tesla after more than 7 years.
In his letter announcing his departure, the executive didn't explain why other than he wanted to spend time with his family, but shared some interesting details about his work at Tesla.
For example, he played a key role in establishing the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin:
The company passed, went into full expansion mode, and in 2019 I ended up working with the incomparable Peter Lommen to find a location for Tesla's European Gigafactory. Once Elon agreed to a site just outside of Berlin, we began an odyssey to transform a pine manufacturing forest into a fast-working Model Y factory. It took 861 days, unprecedented in Europe for such a project. Brandenburg was rightly proud, but it also showed that only a company that takes crazy risks can move quickly in Europe/Germany. It took 19 initial approvals and seven case wins before the actual approval came in and production began.
Giga Berlin helped the Model Y become the best-selling car in Europe.
Although he also highlighted that public policies have contributed to some problems in the production of battery cells in the European factory:
Some of the pain was in vain. The Brandenburg 4680 cell factory is almost technically ready but not in production, mainly because the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) crippled Tesla's battery system in the US. IRA achieved that >1bn 'IPCEI' failed proposal: to stimulate domestic investment in clean energy.
Dings says Stefano Mottarelli, senior manager of public policy for EMEA, will replace him.
Dings is the second top public policy executive to leave Tesla this year after Rohan Patel, Tesla's former head of public policy, left earlier this year.
We also reported that Tesla's CIO left earlier this week.
Tesla's leadership has changed dramatically over the past year, due to layoffs initiated by Elon Musk in the first quarter and management leaving.
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