Tesla brings back free lifetime Supercharging for the Model S

[Redaktion]

Tesla is extending the current free Supercharging offer from a three-month deal to indefinite duration for some of its vehicles.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tesla-brings-back-free-lifetime-Supercharging-for-the-Model-S.932558.0.html

[Haggy]

I can understand idle fees since they are not fees for actual charging, but how can Tesla justify congestion fees when they weren't part of the agreement for original buyers? Granted, people wouldn't want to wait around anyway if the vehicle is mostly charged if they can do as much charging three times as fast a couple of hundred miles down the road when they need it.

But Tesla's congestion fees are based on things beyond an owner's control or even knowledge in some cases. If a supercharger station has 12 chargers and 4 are in use when someone shows up, it doesn't seem congested. Two more people show up just as the car gets to a certain charge level and suddenly most chargers are in use. Then two or three people finish up charging before that person gets back, and the person gets back and pulls away leaving three people charging. It seems to the person that the "congested" site was nearly empty.

With a large station with 100 chargers and about 65 in use, and people leaving as fast as others are showing up, chances of all hundred being in use, especially on a non holiday weekend, are remote. Yet Tesla will charge money for free supercharging even though the person isn't stopping anybody.

Unless Tesla goes by how crowded it was when the person plugged in and whether it ever reached capacity, it's a money grab.

There are times when a person wants to stop to charge on a road trip, get something to eat in a restaurant and come back to a charged car. Leaving the restaurant in the middle of a meal is a problem, and so is making another unplanned stop that will delay the trip. The whole point was supposed to be convenient travel.

[Joseph H]

why would you charge past 90% on a supercharger in the first place? lol

[A]

I can understand idle fees since they are not fees for actual charging, but how can Tesla justify congestion fees when they weren't part of the agreement for original buyers? Granted, people wouldn't want to wait around anyway if the vehicle is mostly charged if they can do as much charging three times as fast a couple of hundred miles down the road when they need it.

But Tesla's congestion fees are based on things beyond an owner's control or even knowledge in some cases. If a supercharger station has 12 chargers and 4 are in use when someone shows up, it doesn't seem congested. Two more people show up just as the car gets to a certain charge level and suddenly most chargers are in use. Then two or three people finish up charging before that person gets back, and the person gets back and pulls away leaving three people charging. It seems to the person that the "congested" site was nearly empty.

With a large station with 100 chargers and about 65 in use, and people leaving as fast as others are showing up, chances of all hundred being in use, especially on a non holiday weekend, are remote. Yet Tesla will charge money for free supercharging even though the person isn't stopping anybody.

Unless Tesla goes by how crowded it was when the person plugged in and whether it ever reached capacity, it's a money grab.

There are times when a person wants to stop to charge on a road trip, get something to eat in a restaurant and come back to a charged car. Leaving the restaurant in the middle of a meal is a problem, and so is making another unplanned stop that will delay the trip. The whole point was supposed to be convenient travel.

Congestion fees work when you have over 80-90% on your battery and the station is full. The idea is they don't want people topping off because by the time you charge that last 10%, a person can fill up from 0 to 80%. But I don't think there is a fee if you need the range to reach the next station.

Congestion fees are only for certain super chargers, not all. They are essentially idle fees. For super chargers that have congestion fees, there is no idle fees (they are baked into the congestion fee). You can think of it as busy superchargers have a bigger idle fee

These stations (with congestion) aren't places you'd be having long meals in.