No more free unlimited supercharging for some used Tesla vehicles

[ohmman]

400kw is like 5 full chargesand 1,300 miles, there's no way they can claim Free Unlimited Supercharging meant 1,300 miles a year whereas an average car puts on like 15,000 a year...

No way it meets "unlimited Supercharging." Grammatically, it meets "free Supercharging," but we can all agree that's a shift from the original intent.

I personally remember a time when their website said that any owner of a legacy Model S or X who traded in their car would get free Supercharging for life. I never took a screen shot, and it's possible my memory is off, but I recall being elated to see that.

 

[Brass Guy]

I personally remember a time when their website said that any owner of a legacy Model S or X who traded in their car would get free Supercharging for life. I never took a screen shot, and it's possible my memory is off, but I recall being elated to see that.

I remember this too. It was discussed before, maybe in another thread. However, you can interpret that statement to mean if you trade in your legacy Model S or X (during an unspecified limited time) you get free supercharging for life. This is not how I initially interpreted it either, but sadly it's how Tesla is treating it.

I am quite disappointed that Tesla seems to have erased all evidence of "for the life of the car"; a phrase I remember distinctly.

 

[303JeffB]

I remember this too. It was discussed before, maybe in another thread. However, you can interpret that statement to mean if you trade in your legacy Model S or X (during an unspecified limited time) you get free supercharging for life. This is not how I initially interpreted it either, but sadly it's how Tesla is treating it.

I am quite disappointed that Tesla seems to have erased all evidence of "for the life of the car"; a phrase I remember distinctly.

I just went back and pulled up the screenshot of my account page from May 2017 - I purchased a November 2016 S60D from new inventory, and the FUSC came with it - here's the exact language from that time period:

Supercharging

You have free, unlimited Supercharging, including your current Tesla and any new Model S or Model X you purchase. If
you choose to sell your current Tesla, free Supercharging will transfer to the next owner. In addition, up to five friends
you refer will also receive free Supercharging. Read our Supercharging terms.

It turned out that the FUSC attached to "any new Model S or Model X" was a limited time offer and as I recall, it was discontinued within a few months.

 

[whitex]

It's been a week for me since they agreed to add it back on - however I still show only having 400KWh. I'll reach back out to Tesla tomorrow if it hasn't changed by then.

Make sure you have a credit card associated with the account, then dispute each and every charge, using whatever communications records you have, as well as other documents from the past stating the free supercharging is transferable, etc. One their billing department has to spend time auditing disputed charges, that ought to speed up the process.

 

[whitex]

This discussion of how Tesla is re-interpreting what "free unlimited supercharging" means reminds me how Tesla re-interpreted what "691hp" meant for P85D, most common sense people saying "WTF do you mean the motors are capable but not the rest of the car????" while a bunch of die hard fanboys defending Tesla, how EV power is somehow different than ICE power (obviously those were not physics educated folks). Welcome to Tesla. Just wait until they tell everyone who paid for FSD what exactly that meant - my guess, the fine print allows them until the year 999,999,999,999,999 to deliver it, so anyone having any problems will be directed to the fine print of FSD and told to be patient.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I just went back and pulled up the screenshot of my account page from May 2017 - I purchased a November 2016 S60D from new inventory, and the FUSC came with it - here's the exact language from that time period:

Supercharging

You have free, unlimited Supercharging, including your current Tesla and any new Model S or Model X you purchase. If
you choose to sell your current Tesla, free Supercharging will transfer to the next owner. In addition, up to five friends
you refer will also receive free Supercharging. Read our Supercharging terms.

It turned out that the FUSC attached to "any new Model S or Model X" was a limited time offer and as I recall, it was discontinued within a few months.

I remember that text too. They later added a date indicating the future purchase had to be by the end of the year.

 

[VifferFun]

I’m still expecting any impact on private sales to be a mistake.

Tesla can do as they wish with regard to cars they own, but they can’t change the ability to transfer unlimited supercharging on a car in private hands without causing a loss of value.

Even if they tried to change the words to mean next owner only they have still diminished the value of the car.

So I am still expecting the few reports of private sales being effected to be fixed.

I agree 100%. If Tesla intentionally removed free unlimited supercharging and devalued cars they didn’t own, I would expect a legal battle.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Amen to this, for new buyers who think this "Free Supercharging" is a deal breaker; it is much less of an issue than you think. I have it, and i may use that 12 times a year... so maybe $100 max per year.

That may be true for many Tesla buyers but not all. Most of my 20,000+ miles a year are from road trips and I have Supercharged my car about 340 times in a little over 3 years. None of them were local since I have no local Supercharger Stations where I live -- the nearest is 95 miles away.

FUSC has significant value for me. YMMV.

 

[ucmndd]

That may be true for many Tesla buyers but not all. Most of my 20,000+ miles a year are from road trips and I have Supercharged my car about 340 times in a little over 3 years. None of them were local since I have no local Supercharger Stations where I live -- the nearest is 95 miles away.

FUSC has significant value for me. YMMV.

While I’m sympathetic to this, it’s also a great example of why this incentive needs to end, and end for good.

Obviously not by taking it away from people who paid for it, but if Tesla wants to eliminate it on cars that pass through them, I think that can only help everyone else.

 

[VifferFun]

While I’m sympathetic to this, it’s also a great example of why this incentive needs to end, and end for good.

Obviously not by taking it away from people who paid for it, but if Tesla wants to eliminate it on cars that pass through them, I think that can only help everyone else.

I agree that it completely make sense to eliminate FUSC on new vehicles (or on used vehicles owned by Tesla), but Tesla must follow through on their commitment of FUSC on vehicles that were sold with that feature. The cars sold with FUSC won't last forever, so the number of cars with FUSC will wind down and the cost to Tesla will reduce over time.

 

[BigNick]

I for one would hate to pay the electric bill Tesla has paid over the years for providing FUSC.

In hindsight, it probably should have been limited to a specific number of kWh, maybe 50x the "advertised" battery capacity.

 

[Huachipato]

How did you convince them to add it back on? I just talked to support via phone and they were not helpful at all, could only confirm that the account shows currently as a standard paid plan. Agent suggested based on what he heard from others in the office that it doesn't transfer to new owner, had no awareness of the terms stating otherwise. Said my only option was to send an email and ask that the transfer of ownership team address it.

I'm arguing that the car was purchased before the policy change on 7/19 from a local used car dealership - not from Tesla. It was listed as part of the deal when I took delivery of the car and should be honored.

In today's chat they said the CS Rep sent it to the wrong group last week - so after debating the "we don't do that anymore" I did eventually get a "it should be there in 7 business days". So I'll chat again mid August if I don't see it in my account before then.

 

[VifferFun]

I'm arguing that the car was purchased before the policy change on 7/19 from a local used car dealership - not from Tesla. It was listed as part of the deal when I took delivery of the car and should be honored.

In today's chat they said the CS Rep sent it to the wrong group last week - so after debating the "we don't do that anymore" I did eventually get a "it should be there in 7 business days". So I'll chat again mid August if I don't see it in my account before then.

The date that you purchased the car is just gravy to add to your argument. The fact that you purchased the car from someone other than Tesla is a sufficient argument in my opinion. How were you able to contact a Customer Service rep from Tesla? I'll be taking possession of a 2015 P85D next week and fear that Tesla might screw up my FUSC as well. Thanks!

 

[Huachipato]

Once the car was added to the account - I was able to find a help section. I think I type "add free supercharging back to my account" and it obviously won't provide any helpful links. But at the bottom of the search there is a "need more help?" option - and I say yes to that and the chat option shows up at that point. I've just been chatting with them, but I don't think I could have done anything till after the car was added to my account - which took 12 days after taking possession of the car for me.

 

[dgpcolorado]

While I’m sympathetic to this, it’s also a great example of why this incentive needs to end, and end for good.

Obviously not by taking it away from people who paid for it, but if Tesla wants to eliminate it on cars that pass through them, I think that can only help everyone else.

I'll agree with that but point out that FUSC was a big factor in my decision to purchase my CPO S, which was the purpose of the promotion. Since I only use the Superchargers on road trips I'm not the one clogging the urban stations trying to get a free fill-up that I don't really need. So, no, I don't feel bad about having FUSC while others who paid less for the equivalent, sometimes better, cars do not.

There was considerable discussion years ago about whether FUSC was a sustainable model at $2000 (or whatever it worked out to) per car — Tesla decided that it was not and I agree. However it did get me to buy a car once my main road trip route got filled in with the final Supercharger Station (Twin Falls ID) and get rid of my ICE car for good.

 

[kwag]

I bought mine on 7-3-19. I have had free supercharging since i took possesion on that day. I have completed the transfer, have the app installed and my account online still says free supercharging, and still says it will transfer to the next owner.

 

[ucmndd]

I'll agree with that but point out that FUSC was a big factor in my decision to purchase my CPO S, which was the purpose of the promotion. Since I only use the Superchargers on road trips I'm not the one clogging the urban stations trying to get a free fill-up that I don't really need. So, no, I don't feel bad about having FUSC while others who paid less for the equivalent, sometimes better, cars do not.

There was considerable discussion years ago about whether FUSC was a sustainable model at $2000 (or whatever it worked out to) per car — Tesla decided that it was not and I agree. However it did get me to buy a car once my main road trip route got filled in with the final Supercharger Station (Twin Falls ID) and get rid of my ICE car for good.

I'm not suggesting you or anyone else should "feel bad" about using what you paid for per the terms of the agreement. I also have fully-transferable pre-2017 FUSC and happily utilize it when I have the opportunity to.

It was a great way to stimulate demand at the time, when it was still a bit of a novelty and the stations were relatively underutilized and few/far between. But it's just not a promotion that scales, and given the current issues with capacity and demand, I'm fully supportive of Tesla removing this from cars that pass through their hands.

 

[FlatSix911]

I think that Tesla was motivated to bring back unlimited free supercharging (non-transferrable) to boost declining Model S and X sales.

Tesla brings back 'unsustainable' free unlimited Supercharging perk - Electrek

Tesla’s design studio is listing ‘Free Unlimited Supercharging’ when configuring new Model S and Model X vehicles:

Electrek saw a memo that Tesla sent to the sales staff today confirming the change and noted that the ‘Free Unlimited Supercharging’ is for the time of ownership of the vehicles and is not transferable. Unlike the previous reintroductions of the perk, there doesn’t seem to be a deadline this time, according to the memo.

 

[Uncle Paul]

That's it...see a new Raven in my future.

Did not want to give up FSFL by trading in my current X.

 

[jaredm25]

Got an email response from Tesla stating they are indeed removing free supercharging from 3rd party vehicles they do not own. "Thank you for contacting Tesla! My records indicate that you purchased this vehicle from a third-party seller. Unfortunately as of April 23rd, 2019, all Tesla vehicles purchased at third-party dealers/vendors will lose their unlimited Supercharging statuses. There may have been a slight delay in some credits disappearing as our systems had to implement the change fleet-wide. I apologize for the inconvenience."
I of course responded insisting this be escalated for an official justification on how they can remove items of value from a vehicle they do not own, in my case 2 months after I purchased it and did have the feature.