Supercharger fee announced, Australia 35 cents per kWh

[WA-T3sla]

You can say that again. The cost of diesel is in reality so much higher than advertised.

Particulates from diesel emissions are a leading cause of respiratory illness, not to mention their contribution to planetary environmental destruction......

Getting off topic but things are starting to change on the diesel front
Major cities ban diesel engines

 

[houdini]

First thing to address here is that Tesla "weren't charging anything" for supercharging. Fact is they were, every Tesla Model S or X sold to date has had supercharging priced into the total vehicle cost, you may not see it as a line item but trust me it wasn't free. This article by Seeking Alpha actually covers off this point stating "when a car is sold, Tesla doesn’t recognize the entirety of the revenue received for it. Instead, it has to defer an amount for each of those deferred-delivery services." One of they most obvious deferred-delivery services is of course providing lifetime free supercharger access. Where Tesla went wrong here is they never showed people the real cost of supercharging and now there is an expectation that charging is free. There is actually a really good story over on NPR which discusses this very topic, about the reputational damage to the Red Cross when they started charging for donuts and coffee after initially providing them for free to US soldiers. Have a listen: The cost of free donuts

I heard tha NPR story when it came out - good listen and an interesting story.

I agree, and never claimed supercharging was free. But to your point how come the price of S's and X's hasn't dropped now that you don't get free supercharging? If it's no longer built into the price you shoould get $2000 off right? I never expected the 3 to have free supercharging as it's a way cheaper car and the S's and X's were supposed to pay for Tesla's startup costs including Sperchargers. I would be fine with a once off charge on the 3's of $2000 for lifetime charging or the credit system. That gives people options. Those that don't do lots of long trips can save some money.

It just feels funny that if you buy an S today you get free supercharging, but buy it tomorrow and you don't. But they're exactlynthe same price. It will keep the resale value of second hand cars up as you get free charging with the oldest ones.

I know Tesla is doing this to help with super charger congestion but I think it could be better thought out.

 

[diesel]

I heard tha NPR story when it came out - good listen and an interesting story.

I agree, and never claimed supercharging was free. But to your point how come the price of S's and X's hasn't dropped now that you don't get free supercharging? If it's no longer built into the price you shoould get $2000 off right? I never expected the 3 to have free supercharging as it's a way cheaper car and the S's and X's were supposed to pay for Tesla's startup costs including Sperchargers. I would be fine with a once off charge on the 3's of $2000 for lifetime charging or the credit system. That gives people options. Those that don't do lots of long trips can save some money.

It just feels funny that if you buy an S today you get free supercharging, but buy it tomorrow and you don't. But they're exactlynthe same price. It will keep the resale value of second hand cars up as you get free charging with the oldest ones.

I know Tesla is doing this to help with super charger congestion but I think it could be better thought out.

I wouldn't be surprised to see prices adjusted to reflect the change as you suggest they should. Let's wait and see I guess. One thing to consider in that is the fact that they are still including "1000 miles" free per year so I guess there are still some deferred services you'll have to pay for up-front anyway.

I can't see Tesla continuing to offer 'free forever' charging at any cost in the future though - the behavior that encourages is contrary to the intended purpose of the supercharger network, enabling long distance travel, as opposed to free charging for local travel.

 

[joninmelbourne]

I'm surprised more taxi companies haven't snapped up model S's in Australia with the free supercharging. Imagine their overheads being slashed with no fuel cost, and they could count charging time as the driver's lunch break.

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

I heard tha NPR story when it came out - good listen and an interesting story.

I agree, and never claimed supercharging was free. But to your point how come the price of S's and X's hasn't dropped now that you don't get free supercharging? If it's no longer built into the price you shoould get $2000 off right? I never expected the 3 to have free supercharging as it's a way cheaper car and the S's and X's were supposed to pay for Tesla's startup costs including Sperchargers. I would be fine with a once off charge on the 3's of $2000 for lifetime charging or the credit system. That gives people options. Those that don't do lots of long trips can save some money.

It just feels funny that if you buy an S today you get free supercharging, but buy it tomorrow and you don't. But they're exactlynthe same price. It will keep the resale value of second hand cars up as you get free charging with the oldest ones.

I know Tesla is doing this to help with super charger congestion but I think it could be better thought out.

I think that whilst it was built into the original price of the car there are huge number of improvements in spec in the vehicles that have had no price increase, for instance AP2.0 hardware. The SC network is not something that you could expect Tesla to continue providing free forever. The other thing to consider is that they're still providing 400 kwh for free, that's a reasonable chunk of free k's per year, with a growing global fleet the balance sheet liability would have been huge leaving it as 'free unlimited forever'.

Personally I think this is one huge way of saying thank you to the original purchasers, you helped pay for the company to get to where it is an establish this amazing asset, here's a perk for life. With regards to $0.35 per kWh, I think the exact point is that it is supposed to be that it is more expensive than home, these chargers are very expensive to establish and maintain. I also doubt the power itself is cheaper considering the huge draw on the grid. Power packs will help with this but they're not cheap either. My green power through Powershop costs slightly more than this regardless, so it is same same for me. Overall, it is still significantly cheaper than fueling a similar standard of vehicle to go a similar distance.

You should see the S and X becoming cheaper with batteries but ultimately they're still providing a few thousand dollars worth of included kilometres in these vehicles for a 15 year life of vehicle.

 

[raynewman]

I think that whilst it was built into the original price of the car there are huge number of improvements in spec in the vehicles that have had no price increase, for instance AP2.0 hardware. The SC network is not something that you could expect Tesla to continue providing free forever. The other thing to consider is that they're still providing 400 kwh for free, that's a reasonable chunk of free k's per year, with a growing global fleet the balance sheet liability would have been huge leaving it as 'free unlimited forever'.

Personally I think this is one huge way of saying thank you to the original purchasers, you helped pay for the company to get to where it is an establish this amazing asset, here's a perk for life. With regards to $0.35 per kWh, I think the exact point is that it is supposed to be that it is more expensive than home, these chargers are very expensive to establish and maintain. I also doubt the power itself is cheaper considering the huge draw on the grid. Power packs will help with this but they're not cheap either. My green power through Powershop costs slightly more than this regardless, so it is same same for me. Overall, it is still significantly cheaper than fueling a similar standard of vehicle to go a similar distance.

You should see the S and X becoming cheaper with batteries but ultimately they're still providing a few thousand dollars worth of included kilometres in these vehicles for a 15 year life of vehicle.

In case no one bothered to calculate it, that's $140 per year at their price. The original unlimited supercharging was $2000 USD.

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

In case no one bothered to calculate it, that's $140 per year at their price. The original unlimited supercharging was $2000 USD.

$140*15=@$2,100.....'a few thousand dollars worth', I realise AUS vs US, but this is stil including significant value and it is a tangible number they can at least expect to cost in