Tesla Adjusts Supercharging Cost To Include Vehicle Use While Charging

[TMC Staff]

Perhaps too many people are cranking up the AC, gaming, and watching Netflix while they fill up? Most Tesla owners will be quick to tell you they really appreciate their car’s features, like video games, Netflix, etc., especially since they can use them to pass the time while charging. One would think that Tesla was...
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[CrayZ1]

It's logical. You are buying power. IIRC the SC kWh rate is far lower than EA or ChargePoint.

Unless it's 115°F or 0°F outside, the power used by sitting in the car isn't all that much. It would be hard to use a dollar's worth in an hour.

 

[xrayangiodoc]

Of course it would be fair to be charged for energy used. It is just hard to give up a freebie. I will feel the same if/when I lose my free lifetime Supercharger access.

 

[garrett5688]

Yeah surely this was a mistake from the beginning??

 

[ecoquant]

Sounds good to me. Of course we rarely use supercharging, except on extended trips.

 

[David99]

Running the AC for let's say 30 min at 1.5 kW (that's a reasonable average based on my measurements) that's less than 1 kWh. A typical supercharge session on a trip adds 30-40 kWh. The AC use is such a small amount, I'm a little surprised Tesla even bothers. Heating in very cold areas might be a little more, but again, nothing big.
What uses a lot energy is cooling the battery down during supercharging. I assume that Tesla ia switching from measuring the energy added to the battery (which ignores any other power use) to measuring the energy going into the car which is really the energy you are getting from the station. Honestly I don't get why Tesla didn't do it that from the start.

 

[S P85D X Plaid]

I think this is not good for Tesla users. The service should be cheaper, not expensive.

 

[xrayangiodoc]

As the number of Tesla vehicles increases the company must make sure that the Superchargers do no become a financial drain. The Superchargers seem to be priced much less than commercial DC fast chargers.

 

[ALSET YXES]

As the number of Tesla vehicles increases the company must make sure that the Superchargers do no become a financial drain. The Superchargers seem to be priced much less than commercial DC fast chargers.

SMH... Tesla Supercharging Network has always been financial drain from both a CAPEX and energy cost per month per site. To the tune of 10s of millions per month globally.

It will never be profitable even if they wanted it to be and they don’t per EM.

There is not an EVCI provider of DCFC currently that is turning a profit as none of their business models work.

Just like gas stations don’t make the majority of their profit by selling fuel.

Not sure why this is so difficult for the EV industry to understand.

DCFC makes up less than 20% of the EVCI market and it may never be profitable.

 

[Watts_Up]

Well, I'm little bit puzzle on how the billing was performed previously and how it is done now?

- When I'm charging at home, I have a Watt meter giving me the total energy used including the losses in the inboard charger (~ 5%).

- When using a Supercharger, I assumed that I paid only the energy passing through the plug, so after the AC to DC converter, right?

So, if I'm correct, there is a 5-10% loss which is not billed to the customer?
​

- If I am using HVAC, some of the energy will go to the battery (let say 50 kW) and some might be used by the HVAC (let say 1 kW, or 2%)

Will Tesla then use a different rate for the battery than the HVAC, the current rate is about $0.25?

How this will work in states where Tesla has to charge by duration and not by energy delivered?​

- Or does this new mechanism apply only if you are enrolled in a free supercharging program?

So you will not be charged for the battery and only for the HVAC?​

If you had a free 1,000 miles or 1,500 km referral program (~400 kWh), you will pay then only the HVAC at each session?

Why not deduct the total energy delivered to the car, so may be you will have 2% of it used for the HVAC (about 8 kW, or 30 miles / 50 km)?​

Honestly, unless you are an heavy user, the 2% of overhead for HVAC seems to be penny counting.

Note: I felt bad for people in cold weather countries who cannot use gloves when driving because of the touch screen:

Tesla doesn't provide an heated steering wheel for the Model 3, so you might have one hand with a glove but not the other,
thus forcing you using some extra HVAC, especially when parked at a Supercharger and using the touch screen.

While Tesla doesn't disconnect the HVAC on the passenger side if there is no passenger, like on the Kona?

​

 

[kayaker]

how does supercharger distinguish between battery charging and other electrical use?

 

[RGressick]

We weren't already being built for that?
because that's still you pulling energy from the supercharger so you would have assumed that vehicle usage would have been included in that because it's still energy or pooling no matter what that seems like a really weird thing to post.

 

[Buttybach]

Is that an error in their last sentence ... 10 to 25kwh difference?

 

[CrayZ1]

how does supercharger distinguish between battery charging and other electrical use?

Best guess: Way back at the beginning, they were using the Car not the Supercharger as the primary communication tool. So it's relatively easy to report back to the mothership what your SOC % is, and it knows your battery size. Example: If it knew your battery held 80 kWh, and you added 50% SOC, you put 40 kWh in the car. Finding out how much power is being pulled from the SC is tougher for the car. Apparently the SC's are smarter now, and are the primary reporting tool. It's easy for the SC to report the amount of power pumped by calculating amps, volts, and time at the transmission end.

But that's just a educated guess, and if somebody with inside knowledge steps up, I will yield the floor. ;D

 

[Yinn]

Is that an error in their last sentence ... 10 to 25kwh difference?

I’ve personally seen some really bad supercharging habits. One owner once said to me, “supercharger idle fees are easy to avoid. Crank the heat up to HI and it won’t reach 100%.”

So the 10kwh I’d believe if the heat is cranking. The 25kwh I have to think are abuse situations.

It surprises me that they haven’t been using metered energy for fees.

 

[TheLocNar]

So what will this mean for owners that have free unlimited “lifetime” supercharging?

 

[Lusquof]

Hi, Thta's really a super good news, so we wont have to wait without games or TV.
It really make sence .
TY Elon

 

[JamstationP85D]

I wonder how many people put their car into ‘dog mode’ in the cold or hot weather when they leave it and shop at a mall for a few hours? Also - charging efficiency is easily accessed from teslafi which will show how much energy was consumed vs put into the battery (and excessive more detail through the ODB tools/apps).

 

[thx1139]

Call me clueless, but I always assumed this was the case. I really dont see how it wasnt. If I was charging up to a certain % and I have the AC on draining battery wouldnt the SC have to supply more to the battery to get it up to say 80%. If my AC draws battery down 5% that is 5% more I need the SC to give to the battery. I guess if the juice from the SC is bypassing the battery and going straight to AC then it would be different.

Still I cant believe that this is much of an issue at all.

 

[Yinn]

Could you imagine if the electric company did it this way?

Instead of using the meter of energy they send into my house, they could charge me based on the SOC I have in my home batteries. I have no home batteries, so it should be free....I just want free unlimited electricity to go with my free supercharging.