Details on new Tesla supercharger usage fees

Cleantechnica

With the January 15th deadline for unlimited free Supercharger access for new Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles fast approaching, the company has now revealed how those without unlimited Supercharger access will be charged.

As previously reported, 400 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of free Supercharger use will be provided to all Tesla owners annually (which apparently doesn’t roll over to the next year if not used). The new charges will apply only to usage above that free provision.

These 400 kWh of Supercharger credits will be applied to owners’ accounts on the anniversary of their delivery, according to Tesla.

So, what are the exact charges? They actually vary by state or country, but are broadly in line with each other — with there being a difference, though, in the way that the charges are calculated. In some regions, people will be charged by the kWh, and they will be charged by the minute in others.

The company’s blog post on the matter provides more:

“In North America, pricing is fixed within each state or province; overseas, pricing is fixed within each country. In most regions, Tesla owners will pay per kWh as it’s the fairest way to pay for the exact energy used. However, due to local regulations, in several regions we will charge per minute of usage instead, though we are actively working with regulators to update the rules. What’s important is that in every region, Supercharging will remain simple, seamless and always significantly cheaper than gasoline. We are only aiming to recover a portion of our costs and set up a fair system for everyone; this will never be a profit center for Tesla. Customers can just plug in, charge up, and access their charging history on our website.”

The blog post then goes on to give examples of charging costs for various common trips:

  • San Francisco to Los Angeles charging costs, for instance, will run ~$15.
  • Los Angeles to New York charging costs ~$120.
  • Paris to Rome costs ~€60.
  • Beijing to Shanghai costs ~¥400.

These are the costs above the annual 400 kWh stipend, of course — the trip costs would be lower or non-existent if the driver had all of some of that stipend to use on their trip.

A couple of further points:

  • The prices quoted by the company include taxes and fees.
  • When in regions where charging by minute is necessary because of local regulations, there are 2 different tiers to account for the speed differences of the different part of the charging cycle.
  • Billing occurs automatically via credit card linked to a company account.

Want to find the exact charging rates for a state or country? Go here.

This article was originally published on Cleantechnica. Reproduced with permission.

Comments

14 responses to “Details on new Tesla supercharger usage fees”

  1. Ruben Avatar
    Ruben

    35c/kWh?

    Tell’em they’re dreaming!

  2. Greg Hudson Avatar
    Greg Hudson

    A model S runs about 200 watt hours per km, or approx 5km per kWh. At 35c/kWh that’s 7c/km. My Mercedes (before I sold it & put my deposit on a Tesla Model 3) did 6.5 litres per 100km. At $1.30/litre that’s $8.45 or 8.45c/km. This is not the most efficient ICE engine, and could easily be bettered by slowing to less than 110kph on the Hume Hwy to Sydney from Melb.
    Yes, this does make the SC a cheaper option (just) but is hardly a great saving.
    Considering the wholesale price of electricity is around 4c/kwh I can see a 31c (Australia Tax?) loading going on to a SC refill. Not convinced this is any bargain, but it will most likely eliminate lots of carbon dioxide. Check out wholesale power prices here:
    https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data-dashboard

    1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
      Ren Stimpy

      EV owners would soon learn to do their charging overnight in the off-peak period when power is 10c/kWh or 2c/km (by your calcs). Don’t forget also that Tesla is offering 400kWh of free Supercharger power, or 2000 free kms per year. EV owners with solar panels of course would do as much charging as possible when they are getting their power for nix via their panels. As EVs become more ubiquitous many companies will start to offer their employees free vehicle charging in the company carpark. As far as brand name charging stations go there’s really only Tesla at the minute, but soon enough other big charging station co’s will enter the market and competition will drive EV charging station prices down.

      1. Miles Harding Avatar
        Miles Harding

        EV charging in the company car park makes even more sense if the building and car park are covered in solar panels. Shady, as well as an excellent IRR.

        For the most part, the EVs would only need a partial charge, or none at all as the 300km EV becomes more common place. I suspect that many work places in Australia could do this and achieve a near zero nett energy import.

        1. Greg Hudson Avatar
          Greg Hudson

          None of what you said is relevant to SuperCharger fees.

        2. Ren Stimpy Avatar
          Ren Stimpy

          Totally. There would literally be hundreds if not thousands of square kilometres of total open air car park space across Australia. If a co. could build a rugged, easily assembled solar covered shading, and modularised so that it can scale….. many interesting possibilities there.

          1. Greg Hudson Avatar
            Greg Hudson

            Think of all the car parking space at airports, lots of potential for solar panels, and an added bonus of sheltering cars from the sun and bird crap. I saw this in Arizona…

      2. Greg Hudson Avatar
        Greg Hudson

        Please let me blow a few holes in your comments, and some smoke up your arse… Overnight charging is difficult to do when you are on a trip, sitting at a SC station. *IF* the SC station charged 10c/kWh like you said (which is what they should be charging – considering Elon said it is supposedly a non profit ‘service’) I think everyone would be happy. But charging 35c (almost the same as petrol) is way more than it should be. Those petrol stations are making plenty of profit from oil at nearly the same cost that electrons from a SC will cost – which is the point I’m trying to make. As for the ‘free’ 2000 km of travel… This will only get you one way from Melbourne to Brisbane. The return trip is going to cost more than flying ! (i.e. $140 approx). Plus, you can’t even ‘roll’ your saved kilometers from one year to the next. I can do that with my phone – but not with my car? WTF? And EV owners with solar panels… are not going to be assisted by ‘free’ power from their rooftops, because they can’t run extension cables for thousands of kilometers (a dumb comment I know – but relevant to your statement).
        Re ‘other big charging stations’… yeah sure. Someone is going to magically appear in direct competition with a SuperCharger? Not bloody likely mate. I bet if you checked the patents office in the USA, the SC’s would not be included in Elon’s ‘open source’ arena (but I may be wrong). There is not going to be any SC ‘competition, meaning prices will not come falling down.
        Pricing at 35c/kWh is just typical price gouging Australia Tax mentality by an overseas corporation. No different to Apple, IKEA, or McDonalds.
        As Ruben said below… Tell ’em the’re dreamin’

        1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
          Ren Stimpy

          The average person spends 48 weeks of the year commuting around town. 48 weeks of work, shopping, gallivanting, etc. and then drive into their garage each night and plug in their EV ready for charging as soon as off-peak time at 10c/kWh begins.

          So really your trip scenario applies to much less than 8% of the year considering not everyone on holidays does overnight car trips, or at least not on every day of their holidays. Those who do can use up their 2000 free kms on their trip. (Does Mercedes offer 2000 free kms of petrol or diesel with every new vehicle they sell?)

          Tesla has actually come out and said that the Supercharger cost to travel Melbourne to Sydney will be $38 which is around 4c/km. So after their free kms have been used, the average EV owner will travel
          – for half the cost of ICE fuel when charging from a Supercharger,
          – for a quarter the cost of ICE fuel when charging at home in off-peak, and
          – for free if they can charge from their solar panels or as a perk of their employment.

          Tesla is not the only EV maker in the market, there are dozens of them including all the big names. Competition in the charging space is inevitable. Elon Musk actually craves competition, as he wants to build critical mass in the EV market which includes charging networks.

          So let me just check…. need to stretch down and around and see if … there’s any …… smoke. Nope, no signs of smoke. Got anything better than that comment?

          1. Greg Hudson Avatar
            Greg Hudson

            Waddayameen no smoke? I was blowing as hard as I could 😉
            10c for off peak is just over half the price I’m paying (I’m on a PFIT tariff). I ‘wish’ it was 10c… I’d be laughing.
            All the commuting, shopping and other extraneous use you mentioned has nothing to do with SC’s, which are specifically for long distance travel. I’m not disagreeing with you regarding the Melb-Syd (and back) run, that will (or should) squeeze in just under the yearly 2000km allowance, but Melb to Bris is another issue. You would only make it one way, before being hit with the 35c/kWh fee on the way home (which does not equal 4c/km BTW.)
            The Mercedes reference was a direct comparison of fuel economy, electrons against my old oil burner (sold to pay for my Model 3). Free petrol by MB? You must be joking (oh yes, you are). You are lucky to get wheels with a Merc!

            Re competition in the charging space… It simply isn’t going to happen – well not for a long time anyway… Unless someone with some brains at BMW or whatever decides to help build out the SC network, which I can’t see happening. They have formed their own consortium for high speed charging (which Tesla is a member of BTW). How many of these HS chargers are there at present ? Wait for it…. A big fat ZERO (in Oz) and only ONE in the USA (so far). Can your Tesla use it ? I’m not sure, but I have a feeling the connectors are incompatible. See:
            https://cleantechnica.com/2016/12/15/usa-gets-1st-non-tesla-high-power-ev-charging-station-evgo/

            As for the smoke… No more smoke here – I gave that up years ago 😉

          2. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            A $38 charge for the 878km from Melbourne to Sydney is 4.33c/km

            http://www.businessinsider.com.au/your-tesla-will-last-from-sydney-to-melbourne-on-a-38-supercharge-2017-1

            A 2.5L Toyota Camry “delivers excellent fuel economy at 7.9L/100km”, which is 69.36L for 878km which at $1.30/L is a $90 fuel cost for the same trip, or 10.25c/km.

            Supercharger charging is free for the first 400kWh of each year (which equates to a free 1600kms each year according to the above article). Thereafter, Supercharger kms are priced at significantly less than half the cost of petrol kms. Supercharger charging will only be needed a small amount of the time because the average person will spend most of their year driving locally around town and charging in their own garage at off-peak rates, further halving the cost of most of their kms from the already-halved cost of the much fewer Supercharger kms that they actually pay for.

            Furthermore those Tesla numbers are for the Model S. The Model 3 is around 25% lighter, so the cost per km for a Model 3 will be around 25% cheaper across the range of charging sources (except the free ones which by definition can’t get any cheaper).

            This is a disruption, no doubt about it. Many more companies will enter (or join) the charging network space and then charging adapter standards will be put in place. Tesla will no doubt relax their adapter policy as soon as other companies take on some of the heavy lifting in building out the network.

  3. Miles Harding Avatar
    Miles Harding

    The Australian rate ($0.35/kWh) is comparable to the West Australian Electric Highway and rates the AEVA has negotiated with roadhouses, towns, caravan parks and motels in many country areas. It is also fair when the location of superchargers and the peaky nature of their power draw is considered.

    One way to save money when driving electric is to go slower, which can reduce the energy consumption of a Tesla S very substantially. (something like 25% by slowing from 110 to 90 kph and 40% at a leisurely 70kph – tesla hypermilers, please confirm)
    (The M3 will be interesting with it’s really low coefficient of drag (0.21) and lower weight)

    Charging costs could serve as a pointer to cars of the future being optimised for weight and drag to reduce energy, material (and other) costs. The high bar point would be the Sunswift Eve 2-seater that achieves an energy consumption in the order of 35 Wh/km at 110kph or $1.25 per 100km.
    (The Eve also has solar panels that weren’t included in the above)

    1. Greg Hudson Avatar
      Greg Hudson

      Comparing what Tesla pays for power (which is claimed to be all green BTW – I’ll take their word on that) should be a lot less than what the WA Electric Hwy is being charged by roadhouses etc. They (the roadhouses) are there to make a profit, whereas the SC’s are supposed to be ‘not’ making a profit. Let’s assume that 35c is NOT making them a profit like they say… 35c/kWh is more than I pay as a retail customer for my home, which is 33c. I don’t have the buying power of Tesla and what I would assume would be a very large PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) with one or more wholesale power supplier(s) somewhere. Also remember that green power costs LESS to produce than dirty stinking coal (which tesla doesn’t buy anyway).
      What they are charging should be a lot LESS than what I pay at my home – and certainly not 35c IMO. Maybe there is some other ‘hidden’ cost that we are not being told about ? I’d LOVE to hear someone from Tesla explain how they came to the price they have, but that is highly unlikely to happen…

      As for driving slower… 90 or 70 kph on a trip from Melb to Brisbane? Give me a break. We should be upping the speed to 130kph to compensate for the large distances, just like they do (mostly illegally) in the USA.

      1. Miles Harding Avatar
        Miles Harding

        Another cost we’ve encountered in the WA network is that of vandalism. At least the Tesla chargers don’t have a CHAdeMO connector that is ideal for destroying the charge station.

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