Will Life Free Unlimited Supercharging come back?

[boonedocks]

I’ve always been amazed that locals bother charging at a Supercharger. I can’t understand being able to afford a $70k+ car and also finding it worth spending an hour at a Supercharger to save $7 in electricity.

100% Human Nature. Throw in the word "free" and the average person will do the oddest things. They'll stop and SC for free and walk next door to Starbucks and buy a $7 coffee \i/ Those are the ones causing the SC congestion and killing the FUSC for long distance driving for all future drivers. If everyone paid a little something (close to the market rate for each kWh taken) and everyone received FUSC once outside of a set distance from their home (where their car is overnight for example) I believe Tesla could keep distance / travel based FUSC running for quite some time.

 

[jerry33]

To not have free Supercharging for trips is a big disincentive for me to ever upgrade my 85S for an X. Sure, it's not a great deal of money (~$250 / year ** ), but the idea that I can go on a trip without having an unknown--or at least variable--energy expense is psychologically appealing.

** ~54,000 SC miles * 250 Wh/mi / 1000 = 13,500 kW * $0.10 = $1,350 / 5.5 years = $245 / year

 

[Ketchups]

** ~54,000 SC miles * 250 Wh/mi / 1000 = 13,500 kW * $0.10 = $1,350 / 5.5 years = $245 / year

I prefer to calculate my mileage / 25mpg x $4 gas to come up with how much money I've saved thanks to FREE UNLIMITED Supercharging.

 

[brkaus]

I’ve always been amazed that locals bother charging at a Supercharger. I can’t understand being able to afford a $70k+ car and also finding it worth spending an hour at a Supercharger to save $7 in electricity.

I’m also in shock at the number of folks that wait in line at Costco gas stations to save $0.10/gal over the empty station across the street.

 

[Maximilien]

I’m also in shock at the number of folks that wait in line at Costco gas stations to save $0.10/gal over the empty station across the street.

LOL. So true. It's funny how the lines of the Costco gas station gets so bad that sometimes block the street. And you may assume they are all beat up used cars. No, often you see many of $50K+ cars (E, S Class, 5, 6, 7 Series, Audi A6, A7, A8 and all equivalents cars)

If you ever visit Tustin Park Avenue Costco, you will see what I mean!

 

[efusco]

I’m also in shock at the number of folks that wait in line at Costco gas stations to save $0.10/gal over the empty station across the street.

Well, I do that and applaud it. When the station across the street sees the amount of business they're losing, perhaps they'll lower their price. Unless desperate, I won't reward the gouging.

 

[Maximilien]

And don't forget the road rage in Costco gas station when it gets so crowded.

Some "adults" fight over who came first and they cut line etc... I have seen enough drama and that ended when I bought Tesla couple years ago. Not gonna go back!!

 

[PhatCat]

I’m also in shock at the number of folks that wait in line at Costco gas stations to save $0.10/gal over the empty station across the street.

Maybe 10 cents a gallon where you live. I just spent last week on Big Island in HI where i previoiusly shipped my ICE car. At Costco in Kona the price for Regular was 3.35 and Super was 3.56. Everywhere else, Regular was over $4.00 and they want a .50 premium for Super (talk about a ripoff). My place isn't close to Kona but I gas up at Costco every time I go to Kona, even on the occasions when I do not shop at Costco.

Can I afford the difference? Sure...but personally I prefer not to give the oil companies even 1 cent per gallon more than i have to. If the Tesla roof i have on reservation ever becomes available there I will ship out a model 3 and been done with the oil industry for good.

Edit: And there is never any road rage at Costco there. Heck, they even have chickens running around the parking lot.

 

[DocZ]

My guess is this was done because a larger battery upgrade for the S is coming soon. Once you have a 110-120kwh battery pack, supercharging really doesn’t matter as much

 

[brkaus]

My guess is this was done because a larger battery upgrade for the S is coming soon. Once you have a 110-120kwh battery pack, supercharging really doesn’t matter as much

Or it helps all the more if your looking for free electrons.

 

[mbarsoom]

maybe it can come back like unlimited data for cell plans came back.

They could call it unlimited but throttle it back like cell companies do when you go over your monthly/quarterly/semiannual allotment.
1) charge to many times at one supercharger (since it is supposed to be for long distance travel)
2) use to much kwh in a defined time period.

If a car goes over its unlimited allotment for the month, Tesla could limit charging to only 10 minutes, start charging high overage fees, and/or throttle the charge rate all things which would discourage using the supercharger until the next cycle.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I just wish they would've made it so you have to pay if you charge within ~50 miles or so of your home and then long distance travel was free. That would've prevented the locals and commercial vehicles from clogging up the Superchargers.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

My guess is this was done because a larger battery upgrade for the S is coming soon. Once you have a 110-120kwh battery pack, supercharging really doesn’t matter as much

I think so too. A larger battery with the ability to charge a lot faster would convince a lot of current owners to upgrade, giving up FUSC on 2017+ cars. It would also convince a lot of potential new buyers to consider buying an electric car if they knew they could 'fill-up' in 10-15 minutes instead of 30 to 40 minutes.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...Comparing free supercharging to gas savings is irrelevant here. When people say "take free supercharging away" they mean "make it paid", not "not allow any supercharging at all", therefore a valid comparison is "paid supercharging" to "free supercharging". Even if you put 600 miles on car in a day (12+ hrs of highway driving?), that's ~200KWh, so between $20-$40 supercharging cost, still cheaper than gas.

That 200 kWh seems about right for 600 miles in a Model S at high freeway speeds, in my experience. However, the average cost of Supercharging seems to be about 24¢/kWh — some states a bit higher, some lower — and that would make the road trip cost about $48 per day, not counting the first day starting out on home charging.

My rough estimate is that I've used about 8500 kWh Supercharging on road trips in 2½ years, which would be ~$2040. [Since the nearest Supercharger Station is 95 miles from my house, I couldn't do local Supercharging even if I wanted to.] More than half my miles are road trips, so I am an outlier, but FUSC is certainly something I appreciate having. I have mixed feelings about it, however, since paying for Supercharging helps support the network of stations.

 

[whitex]

That 200 kWh seems about right for 600 miles in a Model S at high freeway speeds, in my experience. However, the average cost of Supercharging seems to be about 24¢/kWh — some states a bit higher, some lower — and that would make the road trip cost about $48 per day, not counting the first day starting out on home charging.

My rough estimate is that I've used about 8500 kWh Supercharging on road trips in 2½ years, which would be ~$2040. [Since the nearest Supercharger Station is 95 miles from my house, I couldn't do local Supercharging even if I wanted to.] More than half my miles are road trips, so I am an outlier, but FUSC is certainly something I appreciate having. I have mixed feelings about it, however, since paying for Supercharging helps support the network of stations.

No argument that free supercharging is nice, especially when you do 10's of thousands of miles on the supercharger network. My point was that people who compare it against gas savings are doing a incorrect comparison - it should be "free supercharging vs. paid supercharging" vs. "free supercharging vs. gasoline for ICE".

 

[Ketchups]

This maybe be selfish on my part but since I do not have FUSC for life and I see many people with it abuse the use by charging to 100% in areas heavily populated with the S and the X (In my brief travels to expensive coastal areas away from my home charging reach) I hope it does go away for good as I really like road trips a lot more now and want to do more traveling.

Yes it is a selfish reason but I do believe that if I had this perk I would not charge just because it is free, I have over 11,000 miles in less than 5 months and LOTS of road trips in the car with less than $200 for supercharging fees so far, seems cheap to me and I am guessing most people here do not charge like some do but it seems to only take a few people willing to spend many hours of their lives to save a few dollars to clog up certain areas, lucky for me I live by lots of them so I never find myself needing them but on a road trip it can be irritating to wait in line.

Tesla needs to stay ahead of the demand for charging as the 3 rolls out in larger numbers or the appeal of the network will wear off if there is always a wait, this is why I am in favor of a pay per use system, to make it more readily available for travelers away from their home charging.

I've seen this movie before, with the Verizon unlimited data plans.

How does one even abuse free 'unlimited' supercharging?! (rhetorical)

The consumer is not to blame. Even if no one had free 'unlimited' supercharging, you would still experience the same congestion at the Superchargers. The main appeal of the Superchargers is in the time it takes to charge.

I have free 'unlimited' charging at home (solar) but what I don't have is free supercharging at home.

 

[RayW]

I've seen this movie before, with the Verizon unlimited data plans.

How does one even abuse free 'unlimited' supercharging?! (rhetorical)
View attachment 336186


The consumer is not to blame. Even if no one had free 'unlimited' supercharging, you would still experience the same congestion at the Superchargers. The main appeal of the Superchargers is in the time it takes to charge.

I have free 'unlimited' charging at home (solar) but what I don't have is free supercharging at home.

Maybe you’re charging at home the wrong way. I’ve never given my at-home-slow-charging a second thought because I’m usually asleep when it happens.

I don’t think you appreciate the inconvenience it is for your fellow out of town Tesla owners to wait for a stall so they can get home while the “locals” are making sure they take full advantage of their FUSC

 

[gilscales]

The consumer is not to blame. Even if no one had free 'unlimited' supercharging, you would still experience the same congestion at the Superchargers. The main appeal of the Superchargers is in the time it takes to charge.

I disagree as FUSC is a perk that does get abused for the sake of saving a few dollars there are people who will charge for 60 to 90 min. or more while people just trying to pass through on their road trip and grab a 30 min charge to keep moving will be forced to wait, Fountain Valley SC is a good example as well as many others that are being used by locals who have the option to charge at home overnight but would rather get a free charge (assuming they do not have solar like yourself) My brother in law just recently pulled the trigger on a P3D+ because he convinced himself that he would save thousands over the life of his ownership by having free supercharging and I know many others think the same way.

Seems to me that the only reason to use a supercharger if you are local to one is either because you forgot to plug in at home or have to drive an excessive amount of miles in a day.

 

[Ketchups]

I don’t think you appreciate the inconvenience it is for your fellow out of town Tesla owners to wait for a stall so they can get home while the “locals” are making sure they take full advantage of their FUSC

I disagree as FUSC is a perk that does get abused for the sake of saving a few dollars there are people who will charge for 60 to 90 min. or more while people just trying to pass through on their road trip and grab a 30 min charge to keep moving will be forced to wait, Fountain Valley SC is a good example as well as many others that are being used by locals who have the option to charge at home overnight but would rather get a free charge (assuming they do not have solar like yourself) My brother in law just recently pulled the trigger on a P3D+ because he convinced himself that he would save thousands over the life of his ownership by having free supercharging and I know many others think the same way.

Seems to me that the only reason to use a supercharger if you are local to one is either because you forgot to plug in at home or have to drive an excessive amount of miles in a day.

Again, how is any of that abuse of 'unlimited'? (rhetorical, seriously, don't try to answer this time, because it's not)

The issue is not owners with free unlimited supercharging, the issue is simply the lack of charging stalls. Count how many Model 3's are plugged in - they are all paying for supercharging, they are all plugged in for well over 30 mins, and there will be an abundance of them on the road (450k+ reservations).

Just face it, you're just mad the Supercharging station is full and want to (wrongfully) blame owners with free Supercharging.

Next thing you know, you'll all be complaining about the people that leave their cars plugged in after a full charge, collecting idle fees.

 

[gilscales]

Next thing you know, you'll all be complaining about the people that leave their cars plugged in after a full charge, collecting idle fees.

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