What happened to always free?
Tesla updates its Supercharger policy with credits scheme.
In a recent blog post, Tesla announced "a change to the economics of Supercharging," which in plain English means some owners will have to pay a fee for charging their cars.
The only details available for now tell us that Tesla's revised Supercharging program will start on the January 1st, 2017. For Tesla models ordered after this date, the company is giving away 400 kWh of free Supercharging (or about 1,000 miles) every year.
Once owners go beyond this limit, they will pay "a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally."
Moreover, Tesla is selling their decision on the argument that the cost (still to be announced) will be lower than the price of juicing up a similar gasoline-powered car.
Tesla insists the Supercharger Network is not a profit center and that all the revenue will be reinvested in the system's development.
However, four years ago, when the Supercharger grid was presented to the public, Elon Musk asserted that "you will always be able to charge at any of the stations for free," as reported by Engadget.
To date, Tesla's Supercharger puts together a web of 4,600 charging stations worldwide, serving the better part of 160,000 owners.