Tesla is now charging people to, well, charge their cars. The electric car company announced in November that it was doing away with unlimited free charging at its Supercharger stations, which were designed for long-distance trips. On Thursday, Tesla revealed the new pricing guidelines that road-tripping Tesla owners are going to have to get familiar with.
First, the good news: Every Tesla owner gets 400 kWh (kilowatt-hour) of Supercharging credits for free each year. In a blog post, Tesla explained that this amount, which is roughly good for 1,000 miles, is enough to cover most Tesla owners’ annual long-distance driving needs.
“As a result, most owners will continue to enjoy the benefits of Supercharging on road trips at no additional cost,” the post reads.
For Tesla owners who go over that 400 kWh credit limit (which does not carry over from year to year), they’ll have to pay for extra charges. Pricing is fixed depending on the state or country — in California, it’s $0.20 per kWh, while in Illinois it’s only $0.15 per kWh.
“What’s important is that in every region, Supercharging will remain simple, seamless and always significantly cheaper than gasoline,” Tesla’s post explains. At those rates, the company claims that a Tesla owner could drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles for about $15, or from L.A. to New York City for around $120. Maybe something to think about while planning some sweet road trips in your much-awaited Model 3.
Tesla stresses that the money they’ll make from these new Supercharging costs is not meant to be a profit center. Instead, they only want to recover part of the cost and help strengthen the Supercharger network.
A Supercharger.
Read Tesla’s full blog post, which has links to every Supercharger location in the U.S., here.
