Supercharging Value after recent price change

[ThisoldRoadstr]

Hi all, multiple Tesla owner here - I have a Model S and X with unlimited supercharging included, I noticed recently that Tesla lowered the price of the Model S and X by $5,000 but discontinued the "free" supercharging. I love the freedom of the "free charging" even though I don't use it all the time. I was curious what other owner opinions are and what we think the value of free charging is? For example, what would you pay per year for unlimited supercharging access? Should Tesla offer pre-paid or unlimited packages?

 

[ucmndd]

I don't have a good answer to your poll but generally think people greatly overvalue "free supercharging".

Let's say that $3,000 of the $5,000 price cut represents the cost of free supercharging (I think this is reasonable since the Model 3 was reduced by $2k across the board without any change to options or packages). That's nearly 11,000 kWh at current US pricing before you break even - some 36,000 miles of Supercharging.

Some people might be able to make the math work on that - but I think very very few come out ahead.

 

[ThisoldRoadstr]

I think the value is buying a plan that could cover your costs and give you a stable monthly rate - sort of like unlimited cell phone data plans. What do you think? What's that worth? I think that Tesla could both give a lot of peace of mind with this and probably come out ahead on breakage to the plan. win-win.

 

[ucmndd]

I think the value is buying a plan that could cover your costs and give you a stable monthly rate - sort of like unlimited cell phone data plans. What do you think? What's that worth? I think that Tesla could both give a lot of peace of mind with this and probably come out ahead on breakage to the plan. win-win.

Meh... maybe?

My supercharging need is so sporadic I'd not subscribe to an annual all-you-can-eat plan at basically any price. I just don't see a lot of value over paying for what you actually use. Can you imagine Chevron coming up with an "unlimited fuel" subscription?

 

[Ciaopec]

Based on 4 years of driving with free supercharging, the most I could come up with as a value is something under $700/year. At the time I was racking up a lot of miles and had to use the superchargers. Still, charging when I could at home and other free locations kept the cost down. I think it was worth more psychologically than it ever has been monetarily. A nice feel good selling feature. Now, I really don't care as I don't travel cross county as regularly.

If I do go cross country, A Better Route Planner tells me that my old 1115 mile trip would cost $68 one way if I had to pay. That's still great compared to my old Lexus Hybrid. Could usually muster at least 25mpg which would have made the trip cost about $132 @ $2.95/gal (recent events skew those figures).

I agree with @ucmndd who said:

"I don't have a good answer to your poll but generally think people greatly overvalue "free supercharging" ".

 

[user212_nr]

Hi all, multiple Tesla owner here - I have a Model S and X with unlimited supercharging included, I noticed recently that Tesla lowered the price of the Model S and X by $5,000 but discontinued the "free" supercharging. I love the freedom of the "free charging" even though I don't use it all the time. I was curious what other owner opinions are and what we think the value of free charging is? For example, what would you pay per year for unlimited supercharging access? Should Tesla offer pre-paid or unlimited packages?

This is the strangest question in the world. The value of "unlimited" supercharging is equal to the cost of the individual supercharger sessions.

When you go to a supercharger, the payments are handled automatically and you do not even notice them. It is just a line-item on your credit or debit card bill. As far as I'm concerned, that is the same as free.

I would assign the value of unlimited supercharging at about $20-$500 per year depending on how you drive.

 

[cookie99]

if you live next to a supercharger and don't mind converting your trunk to a bitcoin mining farm, i think $5k is easily recooped in a year

 

[beatle]

I picked the "I only charge at home" option as that was closest to how I normally charge my car. I have supercharged my car 14 times since I bought it in October of last year, including 4 times on the drive home from Chicago. I will probably take one or two more trips where I might need to supercharge this summer, putting my total at 16. I'm guessing that will put me at ~$110 for the year. I would rather pay per use than a flat subscription rate. That would put the value of unlimited free supercharging pretty low in my book.

 

[ThisoldRoadstr]

Maybe another way to think about it is as an option you can buy with your car. At delivery if you could finance, let's say $799.00 to include unlimited charging at superchargers for 3 years, would you choose that? Now... Imagine yourself as a new buyer to an EV, don't you think that would give you some comfort in knowing that's just already bundled in - and for Tesla it's an additional revenue stream for them given there will likely be a lot of breakage in this plan. I guess a silly hypothetical, but maybe something to help EV adoption for those with trepidation vs. buying a gas car when you consider the cost of ownership financed into the monthly payment. Fortunately many early adopters of Tesla don't have to penny crunch quite like that - but regardless I've always liked getting something "included" or "free" but if I was new to an EV I might also like to add a little to my monthly payment to know I have "fuel" covered too.

 

[beatle]

I think it would appeal greatly to those who are unfamiliar with owning an EV, and it's probably why Tesla included it to begin with. I thought I would use it a lot more than I do. The fact that I supercharge less is nice, as charging at home is far more convenient. It can offer a warm fuzzy to not have to consider the cost of supercharging, but in the end, $800 for 3 years of supercharging is way more than a lot of people may use.

I think the pay-as-you-go model also helps reduce the number of people at supercharger stations. This has never been a problem for me on the east coast, but I've read the horror stories about the lines in CA.

 

[JimBob 909]

I would vote above for $200-$300 per year. I have Supercharged about 17 times on road trips. I mostly charge at home and have the range to take Sunday drives and return home to charge. If that's $15.00 each supercharger session, that's $255.00 in 9 months. (I had to cut my March trip short due to Covid-19 or the supercharging would have been a few stops higher.) In light of that, I would take the current deal of $5,000 off but no free supercharging. I do agree, on the face of it, unlimited supercharging has a higher perceived value. We'll see when i retire in a couple years, and we do really want to travel the country in our Raven.