Well, I don't know about that. Some folks yes, and some no. I see a lot of high-end Mercedes at Costco and the cheaper gas stations out here. I have folks at superchargers asking me "Is the SC the least cost in the area?" and I note they are in a newer X.
No, don't agree and I see others don't agree. Guess you didn't see my post about the high-end Mercedes I see at the cheaper gas stations over here. "Generally", I think if people have an opportunity to save money, they will. Sure, there are really rich people that don't care about price of things, but I wouldn't make a blanket statement about it.
It's very rare for a Tesla destination charger to have costs. When they do it's a flat rate, but it's almost always free for guests. Tesla just released last month a system that will allow a site with 6 or more destination chargers to do billing, but it's brand new.
If you use navigation, you can tap on the SC stops that are recommended, and it will tell you the cost per Kwh.
The discussion was on destination chargers.
Perfect point. I am one of those "free" people. With my legacy MX, I don't care about supercharger cost. With our other 2 cars with no free "electrons", I know which SCs along my routes are cheapest and I use those.
Unfortunately, nobody collects and tracks costs for the tens of thousands of Tesla and other destination chargers except for their own network.
Plugshare is a treasure. I have always wondered how they make money. I don't know how many people use "pay with plugshare." Of course they are now owned by EVgo -- but then it is not clear to me how EVgo makes money, since selling electricity is not a great business.
Well, she is saving money. But cars with unlimited charge are now a small minority of Teslas. She would pay, at least 18 cents/kwh for the power in her garage, so it's probably worth the degradation of her battery. If she truly values the walkabout it may be a reasonable trade for her time.
Oh and while I think about it, I'll clarify one point. Every Monday, we go to the Atlantis mid-day buffet. I know this location is the cheapest rate chargers in the Reno area for those that have to pay for charging, so I prefer to use the destination charger across the street (free to anyone) as I don't want to hog up a stall for someone that might really need it. That location is really busy at times.
Brian, the founder (actually, he started a different site but then bought plugshare.com and closed down his), was an early Tesla Roadster owner. He had made his $millions on several dot.com ventures and wanted to be able to find places to charge. Plugshare.com was his tool to enable others to find and report on chargers so that he, and the community, could use them.
EVgo was started by NRG as penance for manipulating electric rates in California. It was similar to VW's punishment.
Not everyone is so simple-minded. Many Tesla owners spend a little more for the car because it's better for the environment. Others do so because they like the design or driving dynamics. The price is not necessarily that much higher, and evens out over time - especially if you don't spend thousands extra for special colors and interiors, FSD, etc. Mine, bought a less than 2 years ago, was about $37K with tax and license, less incentives. The car I replaced was $30K used back in 2006, and the Tesla is much nicer, for my tastes.
