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.