the value of 'free supercharging' is overblown.
- If you drive 15,000 miles a year and half the time you supercharge, what is that worth?
- 7,500 miles at 320 wh/mile average = 2400 wh used at SC*1.3
- factor in 30% parasitic loss and you're at 3120 wh used.
What are your alternatives?
1. pay to charge at home - at 10 cents per wh, this is $312/year. Over 5 years (average car ownership) that's $1600. That's not much on an $80,000 car that will overall cost you about $40,000 over those 5 years (depreciation, home charging, maintenance).
2. pay to charge at supercharger - at 30 cents per wh, this is $940/year. Over 5 years this is $4700. Starting to add up, but certainly not a dealbreaker yet on an $80,000 car.
These examples assume 50% supercharging...most people are around 10%. For most people over 5 years supercharging is only really worth $300 to 900 total, or in other words peanuts. Brilliant marketing ploy though.
Before someone chimes in to say 'i live in a condo and have to supercharge 100% of the time AND I drive 30,000 miles a year'. Great. You're an extreme example and are maybe the one person in 100 for whom free supercharging for life will sway your purchase decision. Fortunately for you, free supercharging for life does virtually nothing to increase the value/price of used Teslas so you'll always be advantaged by buying an older Model S/X