Tesla’s new Supercharger strategy allows the company to monetize competitors’ customers by charging charging fees from them. (Price varies by region, time of day, and whether an electric vehicle is made by Tesla, but typically the cost of charging a car is between $10 and $30. ) And if more automakers follow Ford and GM and choose to use Tesla’s connector standards, it could be proof-of-concept for future Tesla vehicles by ensuring that it’s easy for owners to access to public charging systems. “Tesla’s walled garden is great in the short term, but in the long run, it’s a failed strategy,” said Tom Narayan, automotive research analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
In this way, Tesla looks a bit like Apple when it comes to setting up the App Store, positioning itself as the middleman between app developers and their own customers, said Daniel Schlagwein, a business professor at the University of Sydney. . written on Tesla’s strategy. More EV owners will likely have to go through Tesla to keep their cars moving. “Conceptually, the auto industry is a competition for car sales — seeing it as a competition to power those cars is a whole new way of looking at it,” he said.
One potential downside to Tesla’s newly enhanced charging strategy is that its own customers will have to share Supercharger supervision with other EV drivers. Some early adopters felt pressure from the company to use the network less.
For years, the electric carmaker offered free, unlimited Supercharges to Model S sedans and Model X SUVs, before officially ending the promotion in 2018. Now, Automakers appear to be trying to reap the benefits.
In offers emailed to customers, the company offered to trade in a free juice benefit for $3,000 with the purchase of a new car and three years of Super Charge, then increase the discount to 5,000 dollars. Until the end of this month, Tesla will offer six years of Unlimited Supercharger to anyone willing to trade in their old S or X with unlimited years of unlimited charging.
Kagai Kinyua, a Model S owner who lives between Maryland and Georgia, said there is no agreement. He doesn’t charge at home because he’s not allowed to install a personal charging station in the garage of a high-rise apartment building. So Kinyua does most of its charging at local Tesla fast charging stations. He estimates this privilege saves him nearly $3,000 a year.
Tesla’s efforts to lure customers away from free lifetime charging have confused drivers about the company’s motives or strategy. “I guess they realize that the old owners are sticking with their old cars,” says Kinyua.
Or maybe Tesla fell into a trap that other tech companies have fallen into by offering a perk to entice early adopters, such as unlimited calling minutes or cloud storage. , only to realize that giving away for free is just too good. Musk said as much in 2018, claiming that the free, unlimited Supercharge “isn’t really sustainable when it comes to mass production and doesn’t encourage suboptimal behavior.” He concluded, “We should have ended this sooner.”
Tesla’s latest moves to flex the power of its charging network show another motive for ending unlimited free charging: The automaker is trying to clear out charging stations to make room for many paying customers. Tesla, which is said to have disbanded its press team in 2021, did not respond to a request for comment.
Vicente Perez, the owner of a 2014 Model S, says he only uses the Supercharger network while on the road or if he’s running low on battery while away from home in Los Angeles. But he’s not going to give up his free, unlimited Supercharges easily, or the car the perks require. “We’re still planning on keeping it until the wheel falls off,” he said.
