Will Life Free Unlimited Supercharging come back?

[gilscales]

Not all Tesla owners have access to convenient overnight charging.

I agree, for people who do not have access to home charging then this is really the only convenient way to charge as other fast charging takes hours.

I flip houses for a living here in SoCal, after we took delivery of our 3 I am now wiring all of the houses with a 50A 14-50 nema outlet in the garage or in the case of a super long narrow driveway I might put it on the side of the house in the driveway area, I have done my last 3 houses that way and will keep bringing EV ready outlets to the market one house at a time.

So far though I have only had one person come by with a BEV to see one of my "charge ready" houses, he had the exact model 3 config as me "White RWD with Sport Wheels" He loved the house and I thought he was a buyer but he was looking to make it an airbnb, Guess it was not the right fit.

 

[Ketchups]

The more people leaving their cars plugged in after a full charge then the more needless crowding of the supercharger stations.

stop focusing on the 0.001%

Overcrowding will be much worse soon enough as it seems soon the supercharging system will be overrun, I can't imagine they will be able to keep up with demand as they are stretched on so many fronts, I hope I a wrong

Well yeah, the problem is supply/demand, just as I've been repeating myself but all everyone else wants to say is "all people should behave a certain way." If you don't like the wait, tell TSLA to open more stalls/stations, and/or grab your 30min. charge elsewhere. There are plenty of
-chargepoin+/EVgo stations all around - since you have a model 3, you're paying for charging anyway.

One thing I'd like to see is the map updated with destination charging locations.

 

[gilscales]

Seems like @Ketchups would be a little more sympathetic to the problem being in SD and having to deal with the overcrowding at the Qualcomm SC, I am surprised by the responses, makes no sense to me. unless being part of the problem is the solution?

 

[Shock-On-T]

I originally voted “yes when they need more sales” but I changed my vote to “never”.

The reason is that if they ever bring back unlimited charging they will have a lot of very annoyed customers who got caught with cars during the non-free period, who’ve been paying for charging.

 

[Shock-On-T]

BTW, Tesla should definitely not bring back free supercharging.
It’s cheap enough even if you pay for it, and if it’s free it encourages local users who want to save a few bucks.

 

[whitex]

Well Yeah!

The more people charging that are locals, the more crowded the superchargers as they could and should be charging at home (assuming they have home charging capabilities)

The more people leaving their cars plugged in after a full charge then the more needless crowding of the supercharger stations.

I can't figure out if you are being facetious or just taking the opposite side because you were once captain of the debate team? that would make much more sense to me than thinking you are actually serious in your replies

Overcrowding will be much worse soon enough as it seems soon the supercharging system will be overrun, I can't imagine they will be able to keep up with demand as they are stretched on so many fronts, I hope I a wrong

Want devil's advocate? How about someone who says they paid for FSD 2 years ago because they were expecting, based on Elon's promises, that they can send their car in for charging to the supercharger during non-busy times, but because Elon hasn't delivered FSD they have to drive it themselves during the busy times. Elon says it FSD is coming sooner than anyone thinks, so the answer locals can give you as to when they'll stop crowding the supercharger is simple "when Elon delivers FSD, so sooner than anyone thinks".

PS> While I was being facetious, there is a real chance that Elon was in fact planning on FSD reducing supercharger issues by at least having the cars move themselves after charging. If he was counting on that, he might have planned supercharger expansion accordingly since all Model 3's were supposed to do that from day 1 in his mind, maybe even the overnight FSD charging was also part of the plan. The delay (or a complete fail) of FSD may actually be responsible for supercharger overcrowding. Domino effect.

 

[bob_p]

It's likely Tesla never intended to spend a lot of $$$ on electricity per vehicle to only support free long distance supercharging. Which they could bring back if they put a radius limit on the free supercharger access - providing the free charging only for those superchargers that are far enough away from the "home" location (where the vehicle is parked most of the time) to ensure the charging is for long distance travel - and not local charging.

If the cost to Tesla is low for providing this feature - it's a great marketing tool - and something the other manufacturers won't be able to provide - so it's possible we'll always see some for of supercharging included with vehicle purchase, and possibly an expansion of the coverage, if Tesla is able to control their costs.

And Tesla, really needs to require owners to agree to terms and conditions for using the superchargers, so everyone understands the rules for using the chargers. Implementing parking fees only addresses part of the issue - there are also the instances when people intentionally block access to the superchargers by parking there without connecting to a charger - or park so they block multiple charging spots.

The public charging networks (Blink, ChargePoint, …) all face the same issues - Tesla's in the best position to actually do something to make usage of their chargers more effective.

 

[brkaus]

It's likely Tesla never intended to spend a lot of $$$ on electricity per vehicle to only support free long distance supercharging. Which they could bring back if they put a radius limit on the free supercharger access - providing the free charging only for those superchargers that are far enough away from the "home" location (where the vehicle is parked most of the time) to ensure the charging is for long distance travel - and not local charging.

If the cost to Tesla is low for providing this feature - it's a great marketing tool - and something the other manufacturers won't be able to provide - so it's possible we'll always see some for of supercharging included with vehicle purchase, and possibly an expansion of the coverage, if Tesla is able to control their costs.

And Tesla, really needs to require owners to agree to terms and conditions for using the superchargers, so everyone understands the rules for using the chargers. Implementing parking fees only addresses part of the issue - there are also the instances when people intentionally block access to the superchargers by parking there without connecting to a charger - or park so they block multiple charging spots.

The public charging networks (Blink, ChargePoint, …) all face the same issues - Tesla's in the best position to actually do something to make usage of their chargers more effective.

It just becomes complicated to explain & enforce.

But if I was in a high electricity cost area and a SpC was nearby... I'd register my car at a family house in a different part of the state. Then what? Sure, could put more rules around it, but then it becomes more complicated to explain and understand. And still some folks will find a way to exploit it.

Do agree it is a great marketing benefit. It's also a good comeback if you are traveling to the same road trip destination as someone else and they say "I got here first, so much for your fast car". One can reply with "but my charge stop was free, compared to your giant SUV".

 

[bob_p]

It's actually pretty easy to explain and enforce.

Go back to calling it "Free Unlimited Long Distance Supercharging".

In the terms & conditions, state that the free supercharging is only for long distance trips, for superchargers at least 100 miles from home, not for local charging. And that all other charging will incur a cost.

And in the software, track where the vehicle has parked overnight for the last two weeks, and if it's in roughly the same GPS location, use that as "home" and only enable free supercharging for superchargers at least 100 (or 75) miles away from "home".

This would put the program back to what Tesla originally intended, and because they have all of the data for the past 6 years, they can fairly accurately estimate the long distance charging needs per vehicle that would be provided for free.

 

[brkaus]

It's actually pretty easy to explain and enforce.

Go back to calling it "Free Unlimited Long Distance Supercharging".

In the terms & conditions, state that the free supercharging is only for long distance trips, for superchargers at least 100 miles from home, not for local charging. And that all other charging will incur a cost.

And in the software, track where the vehicle has parked overnight for the last two weeks, and if it's in roughly the same GPS location, use that as "home" and only enable free supercharging for superchargers at least 100 (or 75) miles away from "home".

This would put the program back to what Tesla originally intended, and because they have all of the data for the past 6 years, they can fairly accurately estimate the long distance charging needs per vehicle that would be provided for free.

Then someone stupid enough to work 120 miles away from their home and near a supercharger gets free charging for their return trip every day.

I drive from Austin -> San Antonio, spend a few days there and need to SpC on the way home and it isn't free for me.

I hear what your saying, but I'm still concerned about the corner cases. Above wouldn't make me happy and it would be more negative than positive.

 

[bob_p]

Tesla has all of the usage data - and could design the program for the intended purpose - infrequent road trips.

Compared to implementing EAP/FSD, putting together a few geolocation rules for free supercharging would be pretty simple...

 

[Maximilien]

It's actually pretty easy to explain and enforce.

Go back to calling it "Free Unlimited Long Distance Supercharging".

In the terms & conditions, state that the free supercharging is only for long distance trips, for superchargers at least 100 miles from home, not for local charging. And that all other charging will incur a cost.

And in the software, track where the vehicle has parked overnight for the last two weeks, and if it's in roughly the same GPS location, use that as "home" and only enable free supercharging for superchargers at least 100 (or 75) miles away from "home".

This would put the program back to what Tesla originally intended, and because they have all of the data for the past 6 years, they can fairly accurately estimate the long distance charging needs per vehicle that would be provided for free.

That is what I predict will happen when the current users abuse. I doubt Tesla will enforce the current customers as the number of FUSC vehicles will dwindle. When Model S 2.0, the current customers will be tantalized with 400 miles battery vs. keeping the FUSC.

Unless Tesla learns that old customers are not tempted with bigger battery, there is a slight chance it may reintroduce like a surprise event for short time. Like Model 3 Performance. No one expected Model 3 would get FUSC.

But... Like everyone said, it is really time to let it go. Tesla should charge all customers for its supercharging. Make it easy for everyone and most importantly, I don't want Tesla to go bankrupt.

 

[boonedocks]

Don’t fret. FUSC is back again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Inventory cars anyway

Tesla brings back free Supercharging to inventory cars and Model 3 to help sell cars in end of quarter rush

 

[Steve757]

I'm happy if they use the proceeds to add to the network.

 

[Maximilien]

LOL! 5 people in the poll were not totally wrong after all. RWD Model 3 only get 1 year, however.

I threw the choice for the heck of it on 16th of this month. Funny RWD happened to be part of the FREE Unlimited Supercharging. Who could predict this??

 

[Ketchups]

Seems like @Ketchups would be a little more sympathetic to the problem being in SD and having to deal with the overcrowding at the Qualcomm SC, I am surprised by the responses, makes no sense to me. unless being part of the problem is the solution?

Solutions:
1. Build more stations
2. Increase charging speed
3. Revoke gilscales' Supercharging access

I plan to buy another Model S next year from TSLA (with unlimited supercharging enabled) to contribute to the supercharging network infrastructure.

 

[gilscales]

I plan to buy another Model S next year from TSLA (with unlimited supercharging enabled) to contribute to the supercharging network infrastructure.

Best way for you to contribute is to buy an S without free supercharging, money generated from paid charging will build out the network much faster plus i'm not sure number 3 on your solutions list will make much of a difference as I charge at home when I'm not on a road trip, haha!

 

[whitex]

LOL! 5 people in the poll were not totally wrong after all. RWD Model 3 only get 1 year, however.

I threw the choice for the heck of it on 16th of this month. Funny RWD happened to be part of the FREE Unlimited Supercharging. Who could predict this??

Who? The 5 people who voted for "No, it will be back soon again as Tesla will do anything to raise the sales!". I was one of the 5. Isn't funny how after the fact, there are now 52 votes for that option and it went from the least votes to #2? 47 people with 20:20 hindsight!

 

[Ketchups]

Best way for you to contribute is to buy an S without free supercharging, money generated from paid charging will build out the network much faster plus i'm not sure number 3 on your solutions list will make much of a difference as I charge at home when I'm not on a road trip, haha!

I'm sure TSLA would appreciate the immediate cash investment vs. waiting years to generate that investment via charging me $0.26 per kWh.