Update to the Supercharger network policies

[wayner]

And where do they have those kinds of services?

 

[WileyTheMan]

Awesome. The yearly allowance is more than I expected, considering I wasn't really interested in purchasing a SC packages at this time.

And it definitely makes sense not to spend more money and install additional hardware into the SC stations to accommodate this. Our smartphones will be able to load up charging credits just like the Starbucks app.

 

[Spidy]

It's under $50 in credits it's nearly negligible.

Keep in mind thought that the Model S price actually got increased to include Supercharger access and the Model X should have that included in the price as well. So if Tesla does not reduce the price next year you are actually paying a lot for those 400kWh. So it would not surprise me if the Model 3 comes with an access fee to support the expansion of the Network.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

And where do they have those kinds of services?

Las Vegas, definitely.

 

[kaj102wiu]

Keep in mind thought that the Model S price actually got increased to include Supercharger access and the Model X should have that included in the price as well. So if Tesla does not reduce the price next year you are actually paying a lot for those 400kWh. So it would not surprise me if the Model 3 comes with an access fee to support the expansion of the Network.

Yes, I agree with this. and having it "option" will allow people that do not think they would ever user SC network to opt out of it completely and add it later if they choose to

this may be why they indicate all Teslas will have the "Hardware" come standard (not enabled)

 

[WARP 10]

Wondering what will happen at the end of a current lease. Will the free SC access continue if you then purchase the car, or will you fall under the new scheme?

 

[Bruin1996]

As a current Model S owner and a future Model 3 owner I am glad Elon decided to put supercharger credits primarily as it will help alleviate Supercharger congestion in the future. I am also happy he will honor his promise of free lifetime Supercharging for my Model S so I will still be using the S for longer road trips while I plan to use the Model 3 primarily for local commuting.

 

[doubeld]

And where do they have those kinds of services?

Another Supercharger rant. • /r/teslamotors
Tesla to deliver its largest privately-owned Supercharger station to a taxi fleet in Montreal
Amsterdam supercharger is already 100% in use nearly all the time 3 weeks after opening (translation in comments) • /r/teslamotors

I think if Tesla can start selling these SuperCharger units to private fleet companies in greater volume, this will not be an issue.

 

[Drone Flyer]

Why wouldn't they continue to offer free supercharging to buyers of the Model S/X?

IMHO Tesla is setting themselves up for problems in the future for not differentiating between the Model 3 and their higher end models. To be blunt, the Model 3 is a Toyota and the other models are Lexus. The Model S/X is 2-3X what a Model 3 costs so you should be getting the white glove treatment for both supercharger and for service.

The Model 3 is not a Toyota and the Model S is not a Lexus!
How can you say that? The Model S is a Tesla Model S. Enough said! Lexus doesn't even come close to the same road the cars travel on.

 

[JeffK]

Keep in mind thought that the Model S price actually got increased to include Supercharger access and the Model X should have that included in the price as well. So if Tesla does not reduce the price next year you are actually paying a lot for those 400kWh. So it would not surprise me if the Model 3 comes with an access fee to support the expansion of the Network.

This would go against the wording in the announcement. Keep in mind supercharger expansion is relatively inexpensive. Maintenance and energy costs are hiccups especially as more and more people start using them.

If just $500 of the model 3 base price were allotted towards supercharger expansion then they'd be able to continue expanding at double their current rate. Over the course of 3-4 years you'd have enough to build more superchargers than needed especially in the US so even $500 is overkill especially with people paying for their energy usage.

Keep in mind it was already mentioned that the supercharger network was sustainable indefinitely because costs were negligible. This will change with Model 3 of course and with self-driving as there will be considerably more use. This will not alleviate supercharger congestion. If you car is out making money and needs to charge itself then how will it do this without a supercharger and robotic snake? There's no home robotic snake unless you're sporting a plugless wireless charging system.

I can see there are already some people freaking out... overall this should be cheaper than the current supercharging model. No worries.

 

[kaj102wiu]

This would go against the wording in the announcement. Keep in mind supercharger expansion is relatively inexpensive. Maintenance and energy costs are hiccups especially as more and more people start using them.

If just $500 of the model 3 base price were allotted towards supercharger expansion then they'd be able to continue expanding at double their current rate. Over the course of 3-4 years you'd have enough to build more superchargers than needed especially in the US so even $500 is overkill especially with people paying for their energy usage.

Keep in mind it was already mentioned that the supercharger network was sustainable indefinitely because costs were negligible. This will change with Model 3 of course and with self-driving as there will be considerably more use. This will not alleviate supercharger congestion. If you car is out making money and needs to charge itself then how will it do this without a supercharger and robotic snake? There's no home robotic snake unless you're sporting a plugless wireless charging system.

I can see there are already some people freaking out... overall this should be cheaper than the current supercharging model. No worries.

I don't think ANY of the base price was allocated toward supercharging with S, X or 3 which is why he indicated why the S and X price may have been recently raised. margins are already super thin as it is with 3, so even $500 is a lot of $ to have factored in for anything

I agree that this move alleviates congestion which otherwise would have been an issue, but i dont think that is the primary motivator in this move. just my opinion.

 

[melindav]

I agree that this move alleviates congestion which otherwise would have been an issue, but i dont think that is the primary motivator in this move. just my opinion.

I think it brings home the point that the SC network is intended for trips and everyday charging should be done at home/work

 

[dsvick]

I wonder if the model 3 will come with ANY free credits-these might only be for the current models

Yes it will. The blog post says "For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017", if they were going to exclude the Model 3 it would specify that it was only for the Model S and X.

Keep in mind thought that the Model S price actually got increased to include Supercharger access and the Model X should have that included in the price as well. So if Tesla does not reduce the price next year you are actually paying a lot for those 400kWh. So it would not surprise me if the Model 3 comes with an access fee to support the expansion of the Network.

You're assuming that this is a new development and that they didn't know that this was going to be their method going forward. It's more likely that the price of the Model 3 already had this built into it. Especially since it was a couple of months ago that Elon first said free SC for life would not be included with the Model 3, and even at the first reveal he strongly hinted at it.

Yes, I agree with this. and having it "option" will allow people that do not think they would ever user SC network to opt out of it completely and add it later if they choose to

this may be why they indicate all Teslas will have the "Hardware" come standard (not enabled)

You are not going to have to pay to "enable" super charging. When they say that they all come with the hardware they are just making a distinction now so that people realize they have the hardware but not the free for life access.

 

[Geebo]

I'm curious how this will impact the Tesla Destination Charger businesses. Will these businesses continue to offer access to their HPWCs for free?

 

[Mark C]

I'm going with the liklihood that the 3 will do better than 2.5 miles per kWh on average. I'm guessing ~ 4 kWh per mile, or 1600 miles on my allotment.

Considering all of this, I'm thrilled as we typically do fewer than 1600 vacation miles annually and the rest of the charging will likely be inside my garage.

 

[dsvick]

I don't think we're going to go that route. Currently, Teslas talk to the Superchargers during the initial handshake. Right now, during that handshake, the Supercharger is looking for a "yes" to the question of your car being enabled for Supercharging (because there ARE a handful out there that aren't).

In the near future, the Superchargers will ask "is this a pre-2017 car?" "is supercharging enabled?" if it's post-2017 "are there credits in the account?"

At that point, if you don't have credits in your account, the car will still take a charge, and the credit card you've tied in to your MyTesla account will be charged for the electrons, maybe even after-the-fact.....to streamline the process "at the pump".

you don't want to deploy thousands of point of sale terminals at this stage in the game. all of that computing will be done at the mothership.

I wonder if it will even be that complicated. Right now the car tells the SC if it is allowed or not. I don't see why still wouldn't be the case going forward. Your car could be given the details of your SC account nightly so that it always knows how kWh you have on your account, whether free or paid for. That way it would be able to tell the SC it's ok, and it would then stop the SC when it hits the number of kWh that it is allowed.

I'd expect there to be some way to get more while you're at the SC too. But, this would just be the same as buying some prepaid kWh and then your car getting the new allowed amount and telling the SC it's good to go.

Doing it that way means they don't need to do anything to the way the SC operates, all it does is rely on the car to say it's ok and when to stop.

 

[ProphetM]

I had the same thought as Lesifass. It's probably fraught with legal issues to take away that unlimited supercharging for cars that already had it, unless Tesla is directly selling the used car. They might offer increased trade-in value on unlimited-access cars to keep owners from selling privately. Another thing to look out for in the future is some sort of buyback program - there is the potential for Tesla to offer existing owners a payment to remove their unlimited access. This might not get a lot of owners to downgrade but I'm sure there are some who use supercharging very rarely, who would essentially lose nothing by downgrading.

 

[jgillispie]

This saves me the choice of buying SC option or not when I order the 3 so I'm pretty happy about it. What did the option used to cost before it went free for the MS, 3k?

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I wonder if it will even be that complicated. Right now the car tells the SC if it is allowed or not. I don't see why still wouldn't be the case going forward. Your car could be given the details of your SC account nightly so that it always knows how kWh you have on your account, whether free or paid for. That way it would be able to tell the SC it's ok, and it would then stop the SC when it hits the number of kWh that it is allowed.

I'd expect there to be some way to get more while you're at the SC too. But, this would just be the same as buying some prepaid kWh and then your car getting the new allowed amount and telling the SC it's good to go.

Doing it that way means they don't need to do anything to the way the SC operates, all it does is rely on the car to say it's ok and when to stop.

I think setting up auto-replenish on the back end is the more efficient play.

Part of the process of taking delivery now will include setting up your MyTesla account, and associating a credit or debit card with it.

After that, your car will always answer "yes" when you pull up to a Supercharger. If it works like EZPass or Amazon Prime, or any other place where you keep a card on file, your Tesla will probably even be able to remind you when it's time to update your card in the system.

You'll always have the option to NOT add a card, and you'll only get the 400kWH/year. But if you go on a trip, you'll have to go into the app and buy "juice".

It's not a terrible model at all, I just hope that people show some courtesy when in line for a Supercharger. Don't become the SC equivalent of the old woman that buys 15 cans of cat food in the 12 items or less line...then pays for it all with a check....after her coupons are counted.

 

[Knightowl]

I would expect that Tesla will keep the free forever for the original owner of pre-2017 cars. However when a owner of a pre-2017 sells the car/trade in the new owner of the car will need to pay for SC access.

My understanding is free unlimited long distance travel for the life of the car not per original owner and this did play into my decision to buy pre-owned from prev owner. I will always hold Tesla to this but I'm not worried about it anyways as everyone currently owning one now that was bought with that option is grandfathered in.