Would you give up free supercharging for life?

[MorrisonHiker]

I have an early 2014 S85 with 70K miles and in tip top condition. Would LOVE to have a new one due to the AP features, but unwilling to give up the free charging. I have gone in to the local dealer (SF bay area) a few times to see if they would let me "transfer" the free charging to a new vehicle, but so far, they haven't gone for it.

The closest thing they offer is 3 years of free Supercharging on the new vehicle if you already have lifetime Supercharging. We just took advantage of that on an X that we're taking delivery of this week. They tend to only make this offer at the end of the quarter: December 2018, March 2019, etc.

BTW, no, we didn't give up free Supercharging to get the 3 years. We're not getting rid of the S yet!

 

[jgs]

I believe the extended warranty is transferable if that helps/makes any difference.

It is, also the unused portion is refundable (prorated). The point, of course, was that it still bespeaks a commitment to stay with the car.

 

[dgpcolorado]

That's a big part of it - as I've been told by some of my friends in the service centers, you're best off plugging into the charging stall closest to the transformer/power "building" and also best to avoid being part of the #A/#B pair if you can avoid it (try to isolate yourself to a circuit by yourself.) Additionally the vehicles will slow their charge rate once you surpass a specific percentage of capacity and continue ramping down as you reach maximum. Therefore, it's true - you'll charge up to 60% or so as quickly as you can in an uncontested situation but then slow for the remainder.

The secret to A B pairing is to pair with me — my car is so slow charging you will get most of the kW right from the start!

 

[MXn00b]

stops are 2-3 hours apart, with 15 minutes of charging time

I only charge enough to get to the next charging point plus some extra just in case. That keeps the charging rate high.

I understand all your reasons for faster charging, but still don't understand your math. Even if you're going 60 mph for 2 hrs, to recharge that 120 mi in 15 minutes means 480 charge mph!

 

[BerTX]

The secret to A B pairing is to pair with me — my car is so slow charging you will get most of the kW right from the start!

Maybe you should get a sign to stick on the windshield...

 

[Jack007]

You found my answer. I would trade free supercharging for life on my P3D for free timely brake pad and rotor replacements for life. In a heartbeat.

Not to take away from your post but...

I've had rotors replaced on all 3 Model S at <= 30,000 miles and on the Model 3 in < 6,000 miles. Regeneration has its limits.

Crazy! I'm at 96,000 KM and pads and rotors are fine. Gotta use that regen til the last second. Model 3 sounds broken....

 

[jerry33]

I understand all your reasons for faster charging, but still don't understand your math. Even if you're going 60 mph for 2 hrs, to recharge that 120 mi in 15 minutes means 480 charge mph!

Usually I gain a bit. That is, if I start out with the estimate saying 13% will be remaining, I often end up with 25% (sometimes even 30%) remaining by the time I reach the next charging stop. A bad wind day will reduce that number. Also, if there is no adversity, the extra percent that I have in reserve is still there, so I'm really only adding the distance between SCs. And remember I've charged to 100% at night so the first stop only needs to bring it back up to where it's enough to get to the next SC.

 

[BerTX]

I wouldn't do without the free Supercharging, and it isn't entirely financial, but sorta.

I have cheap genes (Scottish ancestry) and, while I can certainly afford Supercharging, it is a psychological thing. I use the car and travel a lot more because the Supercharging is at no additional cost. The little guy in the kilt that sits on my shoulder would be whispering "ye dinnah needa tak tha trip" to me all the time if I had to pay.

Now, I go just to go, and he giggles.

 

[Jack007]

Making a comparison of paying for supercharging vs. not paying at superchargers it makes sense to use the rate at which you would pay for the supercharging, which is $0.28 for where David is:
View attachment 390021 View attachment 390022

Unless he goes to my country frequently, in which case it gets a little more confusing to calculate:

View attachment 390023

HA, I would totally park next to someone to get less than 60KW. Is this a specific province? I've never seen it before. I have FUSC just trying to keep up on what's going on.

 

[jerry33]

I wouldn't do without the free Supercharging, and it isn't entirely financial, but sorta.

I have cheap genes (Scottish ancestry) and, while I can certainly afford Supercharging, it is a psychological thing. I use the car and travel a lot more because the Supercharging is at no additional cost. The little guy in the kilt that sits on my shoulder would be whispering "ye dinnah needa tak tha trip" to me all the time if I had to pay.

Now, I go just to go, and he giggles.

I hear you. Being from Nebraska the saying is "The typical stereotypical Nebraskan makes the typical stereotypical Scotsman appear to be a spendthrift". So yeah, I get the same little voice.

 

[ohmman]

I wouldn't do without the free Supercharging, and it isn't entirely financial, but sorta.

I have cheap genes (Scottish ancestry) and, while I can certainly afford Supercharging, it is a psychological thing. I use the car and travel a lot more because the Supercharging is at no additional cost. The little guy in the kilt that sits on my shoulder would be whispering "ye dinnah needa tak tha trip" to me all the time if I had to pay.

Now, I go just to go, and he giggles.

Hey, hey, hey. I'm a first generation American with one Scottish parent and she'd kill you for saying this.

 

[Jack007]

\



Driving 100 miles, at 300WH per mile is 30KWH. My home rate is 0.12 or so, that’s $3.60 in energy cost to drive 100 miles.

Did you factor in distribution charges admin fees taxes blah blah blah.
My energy cost is 6 cents a KW at home, but that is less than a third of my bill.
For example when we had solar, distribution charges went from $65 a month to $15.

 

[D.E.]

Did you factor in distribution charges admin fees taxes blah blah blah.
My energy cost is 6 cents a KW at home, but that is less than a third of my bill.
For example when we had solar, distribution charges went from $65 a month to $15.

Nope.

 

[Jack007]

I traded in my leased P90D at the end of my lease last September and leased a new 300D. I was able to keep my free supercharging for life because I had five referrals and was allowed to self-refer myself. I don't think that trick works anymore, but you might want to inquire. For me it was a dealbreaker. I would have bought out the lease on my first car if I was going to lose my free supercharging.

WOW a 300D, I WANT ONE

Not trying to be a jerk, I do typos all the time

 

[jerry33]

Did you factor in distribution charges admin fees taxes blah blah blah.
My energy cost is 6 cents a KW at home, but that is less than a third of my bill.
For example when we had solar, distribution charges went from $65 a month to $15.

The cost last month for me was 6.9375 cents per kW/h for 100% renewable (includes everything).

 

[Jack007]

The cost last month for me was 6.9375 cents per kW/h for 100% renewable (includes everything).

NICE, Even with solar averaged out for the year I don't think I'll do that well.... (my new solar is only about half of my old one down to 3KW) Yeah and factoring the 10 grand or so of the solar, over 20 years, still can't touch 6 cents. BUT HEY IT"S SOLAR. No FF for my car.

 

[jerry33]

NICE, Even with solar averaged out for the year I don't think I'll do that well.... (my new solar is only about half of my old one down to 3KW) Yeah and factoring the 10 grand or so of the solar, over 20 years, still can't touch 6 cents. BUT HEY IT"S SOLAR. No FF for my car.

Yeah. I haven't gone solar because the lowest price (this month) was $260 per month for 80% of electricity needs. Now I'm paying between $75 and $160 depending upon how much A/C I use (the two BEVs don't cost much). And since I have renewable, around here that makes it wind power.

 

[ScooterJim]

I use the SC all the time when we travel,which varies from 2-5 a year. I don't drive my MX90D (Dec 2016) very much in town, but when I travel it is usually anywhere from 3000-13,000 miles per trip. I live in the Atlanta area and have traveled to Seattle via LA, Quebec City and Toronto via NYC. I have another trip this year to Albuquerque-Phoneix-Bryce Canyon-LA-SF-Seattle-Vancouver-Banff-Colo-KS-Atlanta over 8 weeks. I also have planned 3 trips to NJ this year and another to Las Vegas and LA. I don't drive the MX in town much, I use our Kia Soul EV for our daily shopping. Out of the 40,000 miles so far, only 2000 miles for theMX are driven in town. I am on a night flex rate averaging 1000 miles on the Kia and 200 miles on the MX, the average cost to charge at home is around $5-$8 per month plus the first 400 Kwhs are free. Half of my electricity usage is attributed to charging the two EVs. Average total electrical bill is around $90 for 1200 Kwh per month. I opted for the free supercharging to help reduce my travel costs. AP really helps reduce the stress in long distance driving. I average 500 miles a day when on vacation. Interesting to visit all these station and meet others while charging.

 

[milleron]

I mentioned it earlier, but remember you can always upgrade to a used S or X that was ordered before 1/15/17 and the free Supercharging for life will transfer to you. That would be a great way to get into something a lot newer (2016/2017) with free Supercharging, AP2 (which can be upgraded to AP3), etc. and at way less cost than a brand new build which isn't that different.

It won't really become HW3 with the upgrade. With FSD, Tesla will swap out the old AI chip for the new one, but they won't upgrade the forward-facing cameras or the old, slow nVidia MCU with its limited memory. For example, I presume that means that it still would not be capable of supporting the DashCam or Sentry features.
It will supposedly perform FSD, when and if that comes, but it's not at all clear to me that it will do it as well or as safely as cars delivered with HW3. Maybe, but that remains to be seen. What we do know is that HW2 cars will NOT be able to support FSD without the AI chip upgrade, but we don't know if that will make them equivalent to a Tesla that's the current model when FSD is enabled.
I bought my 2017 Model S on the assumption that I'd be able to keep it for ten years or more, eventually with FSD, but that becomes more questionable all the time.
I probably would give up Free Supercharging For Life in order to get upgraded range and FSD if the new AI chip, alone, isn't capable of delivering it. I find that I just don't use the Free Supercharging very much at all. It's very, very cool to be able to say I have it, a real Wow factor, but it just doesn't get used much.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

It won't really become HW3 with the upgrade. With FSD, Tesla will swap out the old AI chip for the new one, but they won't upgrade the forward-facing cameras or the old, slow nVidia MCU with its limited memory. For example, I presume that means that it still would not be capable of supporting the DashCam or Sentry features.
It will supposedly perform FSD, when and if that comes, but it's not at all clear to me that it will do it as well or as safely as cars delivered with HW3. Maybe, but that remains to be seen. What we do know is that HW2 cars will NOT be able to support FSD without the AI chip upgrade, but we don't know if that will make them equivalent to a Tesla that's the current model when FSD is enabled.
I bought my 2017 Model S on the assumption that I'd be able to keep it for ten years or more, eventually with FSD, but that becomes more questionable all the time.
I probably would give up Free Supercharging For Life in order to get upgraded range and FSD if the new AI chip, alone, isn't capable of delivering it. I find that I just don't use the Free Supercharging very much at all. It's very, very cool to be able to say I have it, a real Wow factor, but it just doesn't get used much.

We don't know for certain what all the upgrade will involve. We just know anyone who buys FSD will get the necessary hardware to support it. At any rate, an AP2 car can be upgraded to the hardware necessary to support FSD. An AP1 cat and cars without AP hardware cannot be upgraded by Tesla.