Elon Musk jetted into Austin for a surprise all-hands at Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory on Thursday night. His visit left some workers feeling everything from confusion to reassurance to cynicism.
One longtime Tesla engineer said they felt it was “a positive sign” that Musk appears to still value the electric car manufacturer and its mission.
“He always comes back to Tesla,” the engineer said. Musk, who is involved with six different companies, has split his time between the ventures for years, they added — and the CEO’s recent work with the Department of Government Efficiency isn’t any different.
Two other workers said the all-hands helped strike a hopeful tone for the company.
A worker based in California, meanwhile, said they felt “cynical” about the event, particularly Musk’s remarks on “sustainable energy for all.” The worker pointed to Musk’s ties to Trump, who has gone after electric vehicle incentives.
Thomas Temme, a senior software engineer, echoed the California worker. “He restated his mission about sustainable energy and achieving ‘sustainable abundance’ and it sounded really good,” Temme said. “But it doesn’t really fit together with all of his politics.”
Temme added that he appreciated Musk’s willingness to answer questions from employees, and saw the all-hands as a positive for the company.
The California worker compared the event, which kicked off around 10 p.m. ET, to a “publicity stunt” due to its timing and the short notice for employees. (Several workers said they were notified of the all-hands less than an hour before it was scheduled to start.)
Another worker, based in Nevada, said they felt the event was all about “appeasing shareholders” and tuned out less than halfway through.
Tesla and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two other workers told BI they heard about the event on Musk’s social media site X before they learned about it via internal company channels, leading to some confusion about the meeting, especially after the apparent technical difficulties with the public livestream. One worker said they never received an email about the all-hands, and four more said they skipped it entirely.
During the event, Musk provided updates on Tesla’s delivery numbers and its work on Robotaxi and Optimus. Musk also took half of the event to answer questions from the group of workers he was addressing at the Texas Gigafactory.
Notably, no Tesla employees asked about DOGE, but Musk told staff he was “stretched pretty thin” in response to a question about whether he would consider manufacturing additional products like airplanes or trains.
Musk’s private jet returned to an airport near Washington, D.C. less than two hours after the event ended, according to data from jet-tracking company JetSpy.
At least one analyst took Musk’s presence at the factory as a positive sign.
Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives wrote in a note on Friday morning that Musk had taken “a big step forward” in meeting with Tesla employees.
The carmaker’s stock has climbed more than 4% from yesterday. It’s down about 39% year-to-date.
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