This could help reduce Supercharger traffic and costly peak charging times.
Tesla Supercharger stations in California’s major metro areas are currently 50 percent off at night time. Tesla is likely doing this to help reduce traffic at busy Supercharger stations and to help control peak demand cost.
According to Electrek, some Tesla owners in California have received the following notification:
“Avoid the rush and save 50% on your charging fees before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m. at all Superchargers in California’s major metro areas. For specific rates and eligible sites, tap the Supercharger map pin on your in-car touchscreen.”
Last year, we reported how Tesla put a temporary discount on select Supercharging stations in California. Tesla owners received the following message last year:
“Planning to travel this weekend? Avoid the rush and charge for $0.09/kWh before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m. at select California Superchargers on October 31 and November 1. This weekend, tap the Supercharger map pin from your in-car touchscreen to find a participating location or view charge rates.”
Tesla could be testing out different strategies on how to reduce Supercharger use during high energy demand hours.
Tesla, or any charging network, prefers charging to happen during the hours of the day when electricity rates are lower. This saves the company money. Tesla wants to become less reliant on local power companies and has built energy storage units (Powerpacks) and solar panels at some Supercharger stations in order to try and reduce peak energy costs.
Last year, Tesla celebrated the installation of its 20,000th Supercharging stall. The company has over 2,200 Supercharger station sites globally. China has over 700 Supercharger stations and Europe is right behind with over 600 stations. In the US, there are about 1,000 locations with over 10,000 stalls.
Supercharging stations are also growing in size. A 62-stall Supercharger V3 site was just approved for Santa Monica, but Shanghai has the largest with 72 stalls. Also, Supercharger stations might become more entertaining soon. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently announced how he wants Supercharger stations to have a “50’s diner & 100 best movie clips playing too.”
Source: Electrek
This article originally appeared on Inside EVs.