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Update to the Supercharger network policies

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This is from June 2013, Q&A on Tesla's website: "How much does it cost to use the Supercharger? Supercharging is free for the life of Model S, once the Supercharger option is enabled". And : "Will it always be free? Yes, Superchargers will be free to use for Supercharging-enabled vehicles for the life of Model S". I would think that strongly pleads for transferability of lifelong supercharging.

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Thanks for all of the comments/replies to this post Some I agree with and some I do not.

The fact that we can argue each of these both ways furthers my point. Elon's comments are cryptic in nature (especially on twitter) and one must read between the lines a bit to understand them. Now obviously people on this forum are be able to do that, but the rest of the public may not be able to. The Model 3 is a car for the public

Again, I understand why they are making these changes and I agree with them both from a business stand point and customer view. But I dislike the cryptic messages that leaves me guessing at their moves, and the public with a miss guided view until they eventually clarify them weeks later

Elon's been known to play with words a bit and my level of trust in what he says is going down slowly over time

1. Supercharging will be "free for life" . Although technically true for all users who purchased a Tesla so far, this was obviously intended to give the assumption that it would be free for all.

2. supercharging credits. The way they worded this gave the assumption that all new buyers would receive 1000 miles worth of free credits. Now it looks like that is only for s and x orders and excludes 3.

3. By saying that certain features hardware will come standard on all cars gives the impression (for some people) that the underlying feature will come standard. They could easily clarify these details but choose not too. maybe it's because they really do not have the details yet, or maybe it's to create hype and confusion a bit.

I personally do not have issues with these from a financial perspective, or from a business model perspective and I get why they are making these changes, however I do not like the verbiage he uses to mislead the public a bit.
 
Living in California, I don't supercharge unless I'm far away from home or need the electrons to make it home from a trip. It's not worth driving out of my way or waiting for a stall to get some free power. The real benefit of supercharging is the ability to charge quickly enough that I can cover hundreds of miles in a day on a road trip, but the cost of driving electric is reasonable enough that I don't mind paying a reasonable cost for the electricity when I have to. I'm glad Tesla is moving in this direction, because free supercharging was not going to scale with the number of cars they are looking to sell in the next few years.
 
So is Tesla reneging on what Elon said at the last shareholder meeting? Elon Musk On Why Supercharging Won't Be Free For Model 3
we wanted to make it really straightforward and easy, that’s why the Superchargers are set-up at least today – for people on board the car to travel long distances for life. Obviously, that has fundamentally a cost… The obvious thing to do is decouple that from the cost of the Model 3. So it will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, to drive long-distance with the Model 3, but it will not be free long distance for life unless you purchase that package. I wish we could [make it free], but in order to achieve the economics, it has to be something like that.
If unlimited is being phased out altogether, it would certainly appear that way. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised now if they keep the option, it would be something ridiculously prohibitive like $10k...
 
The announcement states "For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017, 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles". See An Update to Our Supercharging Program which says nothing about "excluding" the Model 3. Read the statement.
Semantics. Do you really think ordering the Model 3 before 1-1-2017 is probable much less possible?
Musk did say that the customers who bought the Model 3 would have to "order the package" or something like that.
See my post above. The package he was referencing was unlimited, not a paltry 400 kWh. Are people now expecting that Tesla will be nickel and diming for a buyer to add this meager benefit?
 
This is from June 2013, Q&A on Tesla's website: "How much does it cost to use the Supercharger? Supercharging is free for the life of Model S, once the Supercharger option is enabled". And : "Will it always be free? Yes, Superchargers will be free to use for Supercharging-enabled vehicles for the life of Model S". I would think that strongly pleads for transferability of lifelong supercharging.

I don't see that as a strong argument at all. Tesla can simply say it's for the life of the Model S while owned by the person they have the contact with. That's what this comment was directed at. Moreover, once sold, the new owner can't sue Tesla for breach of contract since they have no contract with Tesla. And will we, as owners selling these vehicles, sue Tesla so that the person we sell them to will have free Supercharging? I sure won't and I can't imagine anyone who would, given that they will risk paying costs in an amount that well exceeds the sale price of their vehicle, over a legal action that barely benefits them, if it does at all.

Looking at this from a logical and practical perspective, I have little doubt that down the road free supercharging will not be transferring with the vehicles. That's because as these vehicles fall in value, they will become very attractive for someone with a local supercharger. That spells disaster for the supercharger long distance travel purpose and Tesla won't let that happen.
 
Elon quote: "So it will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, to drive long-distance with the Model 3, but it will not be free long distance for life unless you purchase that package. "

And that Elon quote indicates that there will be a Model 3 option ("package") for unlimited free Supercharging, as compared to all S/X built up to Jan 1, 2017 that have unlimited free Supercharging built into the cost of the vehicle, not as a separate option.
 
There won't be any unlimited supercharging option for Model S/X or Model 3 after January 1st 2017. Tesla's blog post doesn't mention any such option. There are two reasons why it's not possible:
  1. It would make city superchargers impossible. Tesla needs large numbers of city superchargers to sell Model 3 in high volume. Elon is talking about 1-2 million units per year. Most people around the world live in apartments and park their cars on the street. Eventually, there will be more city superchargers than long distance superchargers. Around the world, there is already huge demand for city superchargers. If the unlimited package was available, people would buy the Model 3 with the unlimited package just to start a taxi service within the city. Let alone offering a new unlimited package, Tesla needs to offer high trade in prices to get those cars back that already have unlimited supercharging so they can cancel that option.
  2. In the current business model, light users balance out heavy users but after Jan 1st, almost all light users will pick the credits system because it is much cheaper. If the unlimited option was available, mostly heavy users would pick it. It doesn't make financial sense.
 
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Semantics. Do you really think ordering the Model 3 before 1-1-2017 is probable much less possible?
See my post above. The package he was referencing was unlimited, not a paltry 400 kWh. Are people now expecting that Tesla will be nickel and diming for a buyer to add this meager benefit?


First of all the 400kWh offer is coming with the MS and MX. There is no option to reject it. Use it or lose it. That's free.


We all know that ordering a M3 is highly improbable before 1-1-2017, however I have to go with what has already been stated by Tesla/Elon.
The first thing that was stated long ago is that the M3 will have unlimited SC'ing. They said the same thing about the MS and MX and have carried through with that promise to all that heard it when they ordered their car. Now...they are changing the game for those who heard it - but had no car.
What is going to happen with the M3 concerning SC'ing? I certainly don't know, however that's not even the 10th most important option to me...so....


For those who are making a decision on purchasing a Tesla based purely on SCing....they are giving a warning. You still have 1.5 months to go in order to still have free/unlimited SC'ing on a MS or MX. That seems fair to me.
 
An Update to Our Supercharging Program

For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017, 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles) will be included annually so that all owners can continue to enjoy free Supercharging during travel.

Looks like this will be Model 3 structure for sure, as he says, "all teslas". . . Nice to get the 400kwh annually, For ppl that don't travel much. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't an unlimited option anymore, as this will be a long term revenue stream for Tesla .
This is false advertising and they can can be sewed
 
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Tesla officially announces end of free Supercharging, new ‘Supercharging credit program’ starts in 2017

Ensuring Use for Long-Distance Travel For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017, 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles) will be included annually so that all owners can continue to enjoy free Supercharging during travel. Beyond that, there will be a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally and cost less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car. All cars will continue to come standard with the onboard hardware required for Supercharging.
We are saving any more money which is why we bought this car there is no savings to having a this electric car. I am very disappointed in how they can just change on the fly
 
We are saving any more money which is why we bought this car there is no savings to having a this electric car. I am very disappointed in how they can just change on the fly

If you're buying a 80-150k dollar car to save money, you're doing something very, very wrong in your life. Free super charging was a perk for early adopters to help overcome the limited range objection. Existing owners can keep their free super charging for their current cars. Future owners have been informed that if they buy after the New Year they will only have 400kwh available per year and anything additional will be charged for. If you're disappointed, then feel free to move on to another brand that will provide your fuel for free. I believe the Mirai and possibly some other hydrogen vehicles might fit your bill, if you can find a hydrogen station.
 
We need to do something about this. They trying to drive sales up by adding ergency to buying it before January and also adding new features like Auto Pilot 2.0 with the cars starting in October. We did to speak up

What do you want to do about Supercharging? Force Tesla to supply it for free - forever?

I could care less "WHY" they are doing it. I'm going to believe their statement of why until I see something different.