Free Supercharging for S’s and X’s

[mmoran]

I realize Tesla currently doesn’t need any “boosts” in sales or marketing; they’re doing just fine. (Ever see a Tesla ad on TV?) But, in business you should never stop looking behind you because others can zoom past you. Also, in my opinion, Tesla’s best simple feature is it’s supercharging network. Range anxiety shouldn’t be an issue if you own a Tesla. Range anxiety is a large reason ICE owners remain ICE owners. The Models S and X are the “luxury” or high end of the limited Tesla model line up.

With those ideas, I propose Model S’s and X’s be given 1000 miles of free Supercharging a year while the car is under warranty. The person that takes a trip once or twice a year would benefit greatly from it. They still be motived to charge at home and only use the limited miles when necessary not clogging up superchargers for traverlers. The cost to Tesla wouldn’t be that much and a small fraction of the cost of a $100,000. And the good will, prestige factor would make buying an S or X, a luxury car experience.

Thoughts?

 

[RAB1986]

That would mean that Tesla would work on the principle of good will, because they would have ZERO reason to give free miles. Nearly no large companies do that now, especially companies with market share equitable to Tesla.

 

[brico84]

I don't see what being under Warranty has to do with anything?

I agree it would be awesome if Tesla offered all S / X owners a 1000 Supercharging mile credit per year

I also agree that it will never happen. lol

 

[mmoran]

The warranty is a artificial limit. So they don’t have to pay forever. And a motivation to buy a new one. Which is the reason for the ”feature”: sales.

 

[mmoran]

That would mean that Tesla would work on the principle of good will, because they would have ZERO reason to give free miles. Nearly no large companies do that now, especially companies with market share equitable to Tesla.

Today Tesla is way of ahead of the competition. Emphasis on today. It would boost sales of S‘s and X’s. And what’s wrong with good will?

 

[glide]

They won’t bring back any supercharging incentives until they need to in order to boost sales. Right now they are selling every car they can make months in advance.

Don’t be mistaken, they aren’t doing anything out of good will.

 

[RTPEV]

That would mean that Tesla would work on the principle of good will, because they would have ZERO reason to give free miles. Nearly no large companies do that now, especially companies with market share equitable to Tesla.

Are you talking about companies acting on the principle of good will? Or companies handing out free charging miles? Because many (most?) non-Tesla auto manufacturers do have some sort of free charging program (or had). The second LEAF I had came with free charging (I can't remember how many years it was). My wife's VW ID.4 came with 3 years of free Electrify America charging (no yearly limit). Ford has some kind of charging credit I believe.

I'm not saying that these companies are doing that out of good will (I am sure they are not actually), but they do have programs to give out free charging as an incentive (in the hopes of winning over customers that think of fueling their EVs in the same terms as filling them with gas, i.e. an expensive activity. Offering some kind of free charging benefit probably sounds really great to the person that just walked in off the lot and is relatively unfamiliar with EVs.

But where does that put us with respect to the proposal for S & X's? Well, first let's acknowledge that 1000 miles of free Supercharging amounts to what, maybe $75? Not that I would mind an extra $75 in my pocket, but is that an amount that someone that just paid for a new Model S or X is going to get crazy about? Maybe to the uninitiated it's going to sound amazing, but I imagine the average S & X buyer is a bit more familiar with the fact that 1000 miles of Supercharging is not that huge a deal. And it's not like you have buyers walking the Tesla lot looking at cars and you need that extra "hook" to pull them in.

As the original post said, it's not like Tesla needs to pull such a lever to boost sales. If anything, they have the opposite problem of not having enough supply to meet demand.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be something that makes the S & X seem more "exclusive" than the 3 & Y as a way to entice 3 & Y buyers to perhaps consider an S & X, but I think that should be something more technological in the car itself, not what I would consider more of a gimmick of free Supercharging miles.

 

[whisperingshad]

People that can Afford and X or S don't need free miles....A better plan might be a monthly subscription for ANY Tesla to supercharge...say 100 a month.
That would benefit some users and the company.

 

[Watts_Up]

Why not getting a “Million Miler” Program like airplane companies who track your mileage earning over the course of your lifetime.

These programs reward million mile status customers that hit certain benchmarks with nice perks to thank them for their loyalty.

I imagine that Model S and X customers could be interested switching other luxurious EVs, such as Merceds EQS, Porsche Taycan, Lucid Air,...

So this could be a win-win situation, because the more you drive the more often you need getting a new car, and staying loyal to Tesla will be a catch-22.

Note: Not answering to the original thread, but Tesla recently offered free Holidays's off-peak time supercharging to curb traffic at Superchargers.

 

[mmoran]

Surprised at the 7 nah and 3 yea votes. Wondering how many of the 7 nah's are model 3 and Y owners. Not sure why an S owner wouldn't want to add 'value' to their $100,000 purchase.

 

[Darmie]

It wasn't long ago Tesla was offering 1,000 miles free with referrals. There were even complaints about this because they had to be used in a certain time. Why were there time limits? The same reason workers can't carry over but so many hours of leave, liability. They don't want to have the liability on their books for any length of time. Tesla can and will use free miles as incentive. I don't think they need to incentivize the purchase of an S/X anytime soon though.

 

[Hayseed_MS]

I kind of had the impression that Tesla does not want the owners to use the the Supercharger network - it just clogs it up. They are pushing home charging and the SC is there as a convenience. Probably way off on this one...

 

[RTPEV]

I kind of had the impression that Tesla does not want the owners to use the the Supercharger network - it just clogs it up. They are pushing home charging and the SC is there as a convenience. Probably way off on this one...

You're not way off.

It's not that they don't want owners to use the SC network. But they don't want them to abuse it either. Too many times those with free Supercharging would charge at a nearby Supercharger instead of plugging in at home, saving themselves a whopping $5 a week or so! Or gig drivers/taxi services would be tying up Superchargers (necessitating Tesla to build out more) while the revenue generating business (or individuals) were effectively being subsidized by Tesla.

The 1000 mile limit proposed would help curb such abuse, but the point is that the network is best used to enable long distance travel and to support those that legitimately do not have a home charging option (and aren't just too cheap to install a home charging station).

 

[outdoors]

Tesla is in the business of selling things that people want. Before they were trying to get to that point. Now they are there.
I don't see a November model year sell down anytime soon. That was another legacy automaker idea to usher out the old and in with the new.

Tesla is still new to people. Just like the Ipod was a fangled gadget to some.

Levers will be there when they need to be. If that unlimited lever comes back I would be concerned. In my mind it is a parachute with holes in it. Don't see it coming back ever. A trinket of miles maybe, but for us unlimited folks. A thousand miles is a joke. I drove that last week.

 

[Rocky_H]

Surprised at the 7 nah and 3 yea votes. Wondering how many of the 7 nah's are model 3 and Y owners.

Your assumptions aren't doing you any favors. I am a Model S owner and voted no.

Not sure why an S owner wouldn't want to add 'value' to their $100,000 purchase.

Here's why:

1. Because it's barely any value. It is only about .3 of a percent of the price. That is eyerollingly stupid and ridiculous to perceive that as any kind of noticeable value to a customer.
2. But because of large volume, this would be noticeable amounts of lost money to Tesla, and they have no need to intentionally add extra losses.
3. And if you think this is a tactic to boost sales, they also don't need that right now.
4. It will add more unnecessary use onto the Supercharger network, which they also don't need right now.
5. Because it smacks of car salesmanship gimmicks and cheesiness.
6. It is another complication of tracking things they would need to manage of which cars have it or don't and which ones are expired yet or not, etc.
7. It will create more time used on customer support issues as people complain about the amount used or logged or expired or not applied or why they stopped, and of course the famous ones where someone just bought a car XX number of weeks before the program began, so "It's not fair that they have it and I don't", blah blah blah like we see with each time they make a change to the cars or prices. Let's not add to that.

Sooo, no.

 

[Fiver]

Roadster should come with free supercharging if it ever actually comes out. If you are dropping $200k on a vehicle, you should get that as a perk.

 

[mmoran]

Your assumptions aren't doing you any favors. I am a Model S owner and voted no.

Here's why:

1. Because it's barely any value. It is only about .3 of a percent of the price. That is eyerollingly stupid and ridiculous to perceive that as any kind of noticeable value to a customer.
2. But because of large volume, this would be noticeable amounts of lost money to Tesla, and they have no need to intentionally add extra losses.
3. And if you think this is a tactic to boost sales, they also don't need that right now.
4. It will add more unnecessary use onto the Supercharger network, which they also don't need right now.
5. Because it smacks of car salesmanship gimmicks and cheesiness.
6. It is another complication of tracking things they would need to manage of which cars have it or don't and which ones are expired yet or not, etc.
7. It will create more time used on customer support issues as people complain about the amount used or logged or expired or not applied or why they stopped, and of course the famous ones where someone just bought a car XX number of weeks before the program began, so "It's not fair that they have it and I don't", blah blah blah like we see with each time they make a change to the cars or prices. Let's not add to that.

Sooo, no.

I just sold my 2017 S with unlimited charging. It was outside 9 months of being able to transfer the free supercharging. The number of inquiries wanting to know if the supercharging transfers would disagree with your #1. The well informed user on this forum may realize it's a small token, most would see it as a nice perk. I remember buying a high end BMW that came with free yearly state inspections. My wife was impressed. I pointed out state inspections are only $30 per year. She kind of said she didn't think of it that but it's still a nice perk of convenience that came with the car.

#2 contradicts #1. Either its a large amount or not. It can't be a relative large amount if it's a small percentage.

You're right they don't need more sales, but they sure could use some help with building luxury brand image. Model 3 = Toyota - Model S = Lexus. You get these type of perks with a Lexus, not so much with a Toyota. Sales are not a problem now. As I mentioned in the first post that could erode away as more manufacturers enter the market. The SC network is probably the most difficult thing for the newbies to compete with.

#4 limit the use of SC's within 50 miles of registered address

#5 I'd be thankful rather than view it that way.

#6 computers are made for this

#7 put every model S owner in the program

All this is pie in the sky - highly doubt this is likely to come to fruition but I can dream.

 

[outdoors]

@mmoran

Luxury brand images are not built or created on free stuff. Go into your local Cartier, Louis Vuitton, YSL. Ask them if they have any promotions going on. The sales people will look you up and down, and chuckle. Many people owning luxury brands can't stand the thought of something that everyone else can have, yet alone get it on sale or with a gimmick promotion.

What do you think is behind the many people wanting to by the old S that has unlimited charging? My general thought is that the people that are searching for the transferrable supercharging aren't Tesla's idea of a new customer they want. Can they be a customer? Not right now with those product offerings. Those customers didn't have the money to pony up for a new one, and want to slide into the free world for very little cost. How much are we talking $45k. That right there shows you that is entry pricing. Not a luxury automobile purchase. They want the free for work. They will also be here in short period complaining that they bought a car out of warranty and want a new battery for nothing.

#6 Yes computers Tesla has many. I am surprised after you have been here since 2017, and you haven't seen the paperwork fiascos Tesla has with all sorts of customers. Dates cut off here.....They misplaced that I had FSD, and took over a year to find the MVPA that wasn't provided at sale. Yeah sure Tesla has computers.

Sure you can dream. Just make sure your bed has rails on it. This pipe dream might make you fall out of bed it is so good.

Tesla again has no need nor will they do what you would like. Feel free to think and share. That is why we are all here.

 

[Richbot]

I could see this hooking people who are new to EV's. Having had the car for a while now, free charging would not be a significant incentive for me to buy a car, or not. It's the equivalent of gettinga $500 gas card when you sign the loan documents with the guy in the back room at the old dealers

 

[Rocky_H]

#2 contradicts #1. Either its a large amount or not. It can't be a relative large amount if it's a small percentage.

Try thinking that through this time. How about a company giving 50 cents to every person in North and South America? That's not an either/or, as you say it is. That is both a small amount to the individual person, but also quite a large amount to the company having to give away hundreds of millions of dollars.

You're right they don't need more sales, but they sure could use some help with building luxury brand image.

I take it you haven't noticed that Tesla themselves have conscientiously AVOIDED ever referring to themselves as "luxury". They never do that. They will use the terms "sport" or "premium", but never "luxury". That is not a brand image that they want to cultivate.

#4 limit the use of SC's within 50 miles of registered address

Oh, FFS. That would be a dumpster fire in a few ways.

#6 computers are made for this

Sigh. Computers don't just spontaneously do new things like that. It takes people's time to design and program the systems for managing and monitoring something like that before the computers can run it.