Long ago, a selling point for Tesla was the fact that the car came with free charging on the company’s Supercharger DC fast-charging network. Later, Tesla stopped offering free charging, but Supercharging remained a selling point thanks to its good availability and the reliability of its stations. Today, some other automakers include free charging — usually for a certain period of time or a specific amount of energy — as a perk when buying one of their EVs. Now, Tesla is circling back to a form of its free charging strategy. Specifically, Tesla is offering a lifetime of free Supercharging with the purchase of a Model S.
Free Supercharging
If you go to the Model S page of Tesla’s website, you’ll find a banner at the top of the page outlining the program. A pop-up states that the free charging is good for the length of ownership of the vehicle. It can’t be transferred to another Tesla, nor to another owner — if you sell your Model S, that’s it. Tesla says you’ll still be responsible for extra costs like idle and congestion fees.
There’s also a bit of a vague caveat attached: “Tesla reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove the free Supercharging from your vehicle in the event of excessive charging or unpaid fees related to Supercharging.” It’s unclear what Tesla would consider “excess charging,” so it’s probably best to stay within Tesla’s good graces to retain the perk.
It’s not clear how long Tesla is running this program, but it says, “Promotion subject to change or end at any time.” Not a bad incentive to take the plunge on an otherwise great model that’s beginning to feel, well, kind of ancient.
It’s not just
customers that can get a deal when buying a Tesla. Another banner on the company website offers three months of free Full Self-Driving (Supervised), along with three months of free Supercharging with the purchase of any new Tesla model. You must take delivery of your vehicle by the end of the year in order to get the deal, though.
Additionally, if you’re buying a Model S All-Wheel Drive, and know you want
Supervised for more than the three-month trial period, Tesla says buyers will get “One paid option included with purchase of Full Self-Driving (Supervised).” FSD Supervised is an $8,000 option.
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