Tesla surprised existing Model S and Model X owners, as well as new buyers, late Friday with a promotion that converted the previously set 400 kWh limit of free Supercharger use per year, to free and unlimited lifetime Supercharger use.
News of Tesla bringing back free lifetime Supercharging first surfaced on the Tesla Motors Club forum after a prospective buyer said they were told by their local sales representative that free lifetime Supercharging was being offered, once again, but only as a promotion on all Model S and Model X purchased before midnight Friday.
Updated: Official statement from Tesla below.
Though Tesla has not confirmed details for the apparent update to its Supercharger program, several Model S and Model X owners that were previously under the paid Supercharger program, said their MyTesla page no longer reflects this. Instead, the wording on the MyTesla page now reads “You have free, unlimited Supercharging, including your current Tesla and any new Model S or Model X you purchase.”
Friend to the site DÆrik, who gave us a first look on how paid Supercharging works, took to reddit to confirm that previous references to the 400 kWh Supercharging cap is no longer mentioned on his MyTesla page. “I have a 100D with paid supercharging.. Around 1 hour ago, the paid supercharging DISAPPEARED from my Tesla account… Ready for an announcement!”
The Tesla community responded with widespread glee, as news of this update propagated across social media. Many noted that they would become Tesla owners for life after learning of this gesture of goodwill. Offering free, unlimited lifetime Supercharging comes with seemingly no prospect of a financial return – just one more reason to love Tesla.
Tesla’s update to its free unlimited Supercharging policy also applies to the first 5 referrals made by a Model S or Model X owner. Existing owners can gift free lifetime Supercharging to 5 friends.
Tesla had initially rolled out free lifetime Supercharging to all Model S and Model X buyers, but as demand began to exceed the supply of Superchargers, Tesla began implementing a cap of 400 kWh of free Supercharger use per year on vehicles sold after January 15, 2017.
A Tesla spokesperson tells Teslarati (emphasis added),
“We heard from our customers that free, unlimited Supercharging was one of their favorite reasons to refer a friend to buy a Tesla, so we’re bringing it back for Model S and Model X owners through our referral program, which we update periodically. Beginning today, existing owners can give free, unlimited Supercharging to up to five friends by sharing their referral code, and all existing Tesla owners who purchase a new Model S or Model X will receive free, unlimited Supercharging too.”
The company also implemented an idle fee to deter drivers from leaving their vehicles at Supercharging stalls after it has completed charging. Drivers leaving their cars plugged in 5 minutes after charging completed would be charged $0.40/minute or a $24/hour penalty.
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Confirmed! I just received an email with this language! Being a new Tesla owner just keeps getting better! Super stoked!
REFERRAL LINK
"Great news—starting today, your Model S or Model X has free, unlimited Supercharging. You will no longer be charged for pay per use Supercharging, although idle fees will still apply.
Even better, you can also give unlimited Supercharging to five friends, along with $1,000 in credit toward a new Model S or Model X."
Tesla is experimenting to see if that's the needle that will move folks from one Model to another.
Counting me hopefully by year end as a happy Model X 100D customer, I personally never understood Tesla decision to pull the free-plug in January, on this key selling point for current higher end Models S & X, and just 5 days before Elon announced the 100D Model X I had been waiting to put my PO ... giving me no chance to play. And Tesla did that in the middle of nowhere and without a significant price reduction, while potential average-high millage customers like me used to count that as an up to 10K€ advantage during the > 10 Years life of the car (Vs < €2.5K actual cost for Tesla on average so far, If I got it right). As a result, in January, I differed my purchase of Model X for up to a year.
What pissed me off the most then is this was a wrong strategical move for Tesla, after Porsche/WW Group and the other German makers meant to soon run after Tesla EVs more seriously starting next year, had made the decision to go for for up to 800V and 350KW Hyperchargers based on CCS standard, handled via a common groupment of # German cars vendors, and via Third Party charging companies, instead of in house like Tesla. So Tesla had huge interest to retain this free-for life Supercharging program, at least on their high end Model S & X, or as an option for all EVs, and price it for what it's expected to cost down the road if, previous Tesla provision for this was the problem, to challenge the business model of these German competitors (Investing with German vendors for # ZERO secured end users revenue, is not the same story at all for them !).
Now my Model X 100D config re-checked on Tesla WEB site this week can only be delivered after my summer vacations in August, so I have no rush to firm a PO right now, hence I will wait a little more for new Model X refresh expected to come with 2170 Battery cells, that Elon recently tweeted Tesla is meant to announce before year end, and till I properly understand what model will be able to take full advantage of Next Gen SuperCharger v3 much faster than Germans 350KW tweeted by Elon end of last year. As 2170 cells are supposed to be up to # +30% more efficient and # -30% cheaper per KWH than current 18165 cells, I still dream that these models may come cheaper than current ones for same KWH capacity, or that I could get 130KWH for the price of current 100KWH Model X....despite Elon said earlier that Model S & X were not meant to exceed 100KWH.... (That comment may have been limited to 18165 cells models).
Well if anyone needs my referral code, let me know :)
Still have a referral code available?
Still have a referral code available?
You can use my Tesla referral link for free Supercharging on Model S or X. *************jorge
