ℬête Noire
Active Member
Gas stations vary by location because they have competitors across the street, and they want you to buy more from them because they turn a profit on that volume. This is their core business (well for most it's not, what their core business is the snacks/groceries, what they really want is trips to their store). Superchargers don't really have competition, and are unlikely to get any because they are pricing at cost. Tesla is also generally indifferent if you were able to charge elsewhere, because it doesn't mean less profit for them. It just means less effort for them.Not sure I agree- every gas station sets it price. Every utility sets its price. Every supercharger experiences its own cost based on where it gets it power and rent. Why would the price for filling up not vary by location? Not to make a profit, but to avoid loss.
They do need to maintain some regional pricing. Partially because wide variances in grid prices but also because of varying State laws and taxes. You can't even sell charging the same in most of the States between the Rockies and the Mississippi, along with some others. They have to sell (and thus price) by time connected to the SC rather than by the kWh.