Free supercharging value?

[Sohoprom]

Hello all. I am selling my X which does not include free supercharging. And seems like the 1st question or issue prospective buyers ask about.

Can't help but wonder how much is it worth to a buyer? $500 a year? $5000 a year? I know there are variables such as anticipated miles driven per year and do you live in an apartment buit I get the sense that some buyers put too much weight on it.

Kind of like you found a great house at a great price but opt out cause it needs a fresh paint job or something minor.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ostrichsak]

For the average Tesla owner, the amount of savings is measured in the hundreds not the thousands. People put it up on this pedestal like it's some sort of priceless item but the reality is that most people will pigeon hold themselves into a lesser car for feature that has a tremendous amount of community marketing behind it. The best advice I could give to you is to find the right car for your needs once you understand all the differences between all the cars over all the years and if it has FUSC, cool. If not, you're probably not going to be out nearly as much as you might think on paper before owning one. Aside from a couple of trips I haven't used supercharging at all over the last several years. I charge from home and love the savings that I get from doing so compared to gasoline for this same amount of miles covered.

 

[Sohoprom]

Agreed. Again I am selling not buying and I know it might matter more to some...

 

[E90alex]

Depending on how much they drive and the cost of supercharging in their area it can be worth anywhere from $700-3000ish per year or more.

 

[Sohoprom]

Depending on how much they drive and the cost of supercharging in their area it can be worth anywhere from $700-3000ish per year or more.

Big range. Not surprising since many variables

 

[Ostrichsak]

Agreed. Again I am selling not buying and I know it might matter more to some...

To me, it's not as valuable as I once thought it was before owning several Teslas myself. I found myself using it at times just because it was free. Now that I pay a premium compared to charging at home I find I almost never use it, again, unless road tripping.

There is the rare use-case of someone living in an apartment or something where they'll need it but this is 1) rare and 2) really the wrong way to go into EV ownership IMO. It's a band-aid fix for something that is likely going to prove to be an annoying ownership experience and may also negatively impact the HV battery health which is something that you probably pay attention to on higher mile specimens and take reasonable precautions to extend, if possible.

When I sell a car that doesn't have it I politely reply and let them know that it's likely not worth quite as much as they assume it is and to remind them to not paint themselves in a corner on a single feature/option that will cause them narrow their pool dramatically and (likely) overpay for a car that's older and is missing key features they'd likely get far more enjoyment from/use of.

 

[Sohoprom]

Outstanding reasoning. Very helpful

 

[SneepeZ]

I'd pay an extra $2k for a Tesla with free supercharging. It would likely take years to recoup that value since supercharging is generally viewed as being bad for the battery. But the convenience of not giving two sh*ts about supercharging rates ($/kWh) and times is a nice luxury.

 

[Ostrichsak]

I'd pay an extra $2k for a Tesla with free supercharging. It would likely take years to recoup that value since supercharging is generally viewed as being bad for the battery. But the convenience of not giving two sh*ts about supercharging rates ($/kWh) and times is a nice luxury.

Having owned multiple cars with it as well as multiple cars w/o it over the years now I can say that I definitely wouldn't. In a vacuum, sure. Assuming that's the only difference. But in reality your cars will differ in many small ways. These small items are both incremental & significant improvements that will benefit far more than having FUSC on an older car that doesn't have them.

I can appreciate your $2k figure although I'd have to have a pressing need to use it regularly to assign that high of a figure. That's a pretty expensive "peace of mind" price tag. Personally, I'd never go back in time in terms of vehicle improvements (which you do actually benefit from daily) to get FUSC again even if it were free, let alone the arbitrary $2k premium you mentioned.

 

[kingkong5]

Looking at my charging stats, in the past year I have used almost 8000 kWh of supercharging for my Model S with FUSC. There are three superchargers within three miles of my house, so it's easy to get out and charge it when needed. Electricity at my house is about $0.35 per kWh so I guess that saved me about $2800 in electricity for the past 12 months, and a similar amount each year for the four years I've had it. I think the per kWh charge at the superchargers is more than that, about $0.46 or so.

 

[RayK]

Hello all. I am selling my X which does not include free supercharging. And seems like the 1st question or issue prospective buyers ask about.

Can't help but wonder how much is it worth to a buyer? $500 a year? $5000 a year? I know there are variables such as anticipated miles driven per year and do you live in an apartment buit I get the sense that some buyers put too much weight on it.

Kind of like you found a great house at a great price but opt out cause it needs a fresh paint job or something minor.

Any thoughts?

Let's assume some values that are probably way out there... (calculations done with a spreadsheet I created months ago when comparing ICE vs EV).

Assume 25,000 miles driving per year
Assume Supercharger rate is $0.48/kWh
Assume charging efficiency is 90% (meaning the amount of power going into the battery and not powering other stuff in the car)
Assume driving efficiency is 400Wh/mi
Assume 100% Supercharging (the overall amount of charging, meaning NO Level 2)
That yields $5333.33 per year in Supercharging costs or $0.21/mile.

Now, let's make this a little bit more realistic....
Same 25,000 miles driven
Assume Supercharger rate is $0.35/kWh; WAG of average cost if using off-peak times around home and peak during trips
Assume charging efficiency is 95%
Assume driving efficiency is 350Wh/mi
Assume 33.3% Supercharging and 66.6% L2; actual mileage covered by Supercharging is then 8,333 miles
That yields $1074.52 per year in Supercharging costs or $0.13/mile

So not quite a 5X delta between the two estimates.

 

[kavyboy]

As an admitted skinflint, I get great satisfaction from FUSC. It's a pleasure that goes beyond the practical, like how some people pay a lot of money for expensive wheels that look good (to them) but actually limit range. FUSC just gives me joy. I don't need to calculate dollar amounts. I love going on road trips, using my credit card reward points for stays, and basically getting free holidays.
If you can find a like-minded buyer, they'll pay extra for "all-you-can-eat" FUSC. I would easily pay an extra $1000-$1500 for it.

 

[Big Earl]

It varies, but in general, FUSC is worth about 10¢ per mile. If the average person drives 12,000 miles per year, that’s an easy $1,200 savings if they Supercharge exclusively (apartment dwellers, people who don’t value their time, etc.).

I drive 30,000 - 40,000 miles per year due to extensive road trips. Even charging at home as much as possible, that’s still a ~$2,000 savings just in one year.

No, I don’t have free Supercharging.

 

[cbdream99]

A Tesla with transferrable FUSC is usually the earlier version, which means higher mileage, and warranty already expired or near its end. I am the small batch of MS that got the FUSC after Tesla expired it in 2017 but not transferrable. It is only worth it to a buyer who can find one that's transferrable but the buyer has to be aware of the cost of the HV battery later, so to me, it only sounds good on paper..

 

[E90alex]

A Tesla with transferrable FUSC is usually the earlier version, which means higher mileage, and warranty already expired or near its end. I am the small batch of MS that got the FUSC after Tesla expired it in 2017 but not transferrable. It is only worth it to a buyer who can find one that's transferrable but the buyer has to be aware of the cost of the HV battery later, so to me, it only sounds good on paper..

I wonder if the early cars have worse degradation and failing batteries in part due to free supercharging causing people to supercharge all the time.

 

[cbdream99]

I wonder if the early cars have worse degradation and failing batteries in part due to free supercharging causing people to supercharge all the time.

Supercharging impacts battery life but not significantly unless someone frequently empties it and then charges it to 100% like ICE fuel tanks.
I think most early adopters probably don't have home charging set up and have no choice but to use supercharging, earlier model has moisture
intrusion problem which is a common cause of premature death.

 

[FireFighterHil]

I think it all depends on the person and the super charging infrastructure in your area. If you are in an area with lots of super charger locations id say having FUSC is a huge benefit and would be worth much more than to someone who has to go out of their way to super charge. Its also worth more to people who do not have a way to charge at home. For me its worth something because I see it as maximizing my investment. I haven't even had my Tesla a full month yet and between the drive home from Virginia, driving it to work and personal needs its already saved me at least $200 in fuel expenses. If I had to pay for super charging, it would actually cost me MORE than gas!

 

[Darmie]

Here's a data point for you.
Just traded in our 2018 Model X with 92,000 miles. I used Teslafi from beginning.
353 S/C charges
13,1498 kWh
Approx $4,319 savings over the 5 years.

I think the price of S/C charging will continue going up from here but I felt saving less than $1,000 a year was not worth loosing out on the amazing changes of the 2023 MX.