Tesla owners, the days of free access to Supercharger stations are about to come to an end. The company, via an official blog post, has today announced that it will start charging new Tesla car buyers for using their worldwide high-speed charging network. It will start charging this Supercharger fees on new Tesla vehicles, purchased after January 15.
The said change in the Supercharger network has come into effect with regards to a commitment made by Tesla towards the end of last year. Under this initiative, the company will now offer new Model S and Model X owners 400 kWh of free charging credit annually. These credits, as mentioned in the blog post, are good for around 1,000 miles of driving. This the company believes would be enough for the “annual long-distance driving needs” of your family. Post that, you’ll need to pay for using the charging stations.
Now, for Tesla owners who deplete their annual charging credits, the automaker has released a detailed plan on how they will be charged for using the Supercharger stations. The small charging fees that’ll be collected from new owners will vary with each country or state within the United States. But the same will most likely be fixed within a particular state in the U.S.
As for the fee collection, Tesla plans to keep the charging fees as fair and minimal as possible. The company will require new users to pay for using the Supercharger station on a per kWh basis at most locations. But, the automaker intends to charge Tesla users in some areas on a per minute basis due to local regulations. But, it further adds that they are actively involved in negotiations with regulators to update the rules to make them synonymous worldwide.
Speaking about the change of plans, the official blog post reads,
Supercharging will remain simple, seamless and always significantly cheaper than gasoline. We are only aiming to recover a portion of our costs and set up a fair system for everyone; this will never be a profit center for Tesla.
The automaker is of the opinion that the 400 kWh charging credits provided along with new Tesla vehicles should be enough for regular use. You might not even require the Supercharger credits if you’re not planning to take long drives on a regular basis. But still to put things into perspective, the company has shared the following details:
To put the affordability of Supercharging into perspective, customers will pay about $15 for a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, about $120 from Los Angeles to New York, about €60 from Paris to Rome, and about ¥400 from Beijing to Shanghai.
To know how much you’ll be charged in your state or country, click here for the complete cost breakdown.
