no more unlimited supercharging as from 16/09 - Tesla

[PixelpeepS3]

Due to place an order on 30th September on a new model S 75D but received an email a week ago saying tesla were ending their 'free unlimited supercharging referral scheme' on the 16th September.

Although in the grand scheme of things it shouldn't be a deal breaker it's left me with a niggle and as £75k is a fair amount to sink into a car i fear it might start to de-rail the whole process for me.

Does anyone know if they're planning on reintroducing something similar in the future?

i liked the idea of the freedom to be able to, regardless of bank balance, be able to drive to say Scotland, topping up for free along the way..

Anyone feel the same? am i being a wuss ?

[Michaelbailey]

legitimate concern. Id also be very concerned with the way Tesla are heading... Im not fully clued up on this but isn't it free to charge up at motorway services anyway? Maybe not supercharging but surely that system will be fairly competent?

[chuenmanc]

Ecotricity stopped doing free charging at motorway services a couple of years ago I'm afraid.

[ntiz]

Before I made the decision not to go for second Tesla it was this that put me on the spot. I had to decide before the 16th if I was going to order one and defer until next year.

As has already been said in the grand scheme of things its not that big a deal put personally the way I justify all the time I have spent at chargers is that I'm travelling for free. Paying to be inconvenienced for me would be a bit much.

That is of course just my personal preference. I do 25k+ a year in mine so I do spend quite a lot of time at chargers.

Speaking to the guys at WD it seems the referral system will still exist but only gives free charging for the first year.

This could actually be a big moment for the development of EVs as paying to charge starts to take hold. The rumour is that the Porsche Taycan cost to charge will not be that much cheaper than petrol.

Shell is putting chargers in that will cost 49p a KWh https://www.shell.co.uk/motorist/welcome-to-shell-...

Will be interesting if this slows the uptake of EVs at all. The tax man hasn't got involved yet either.

[Sagacitas]

I can't see them reintroducing the free supercharging.

But at £0.20/kWh the most you could pay would be £15 (empty to 100%). Most of the time it is likely to be closer to £10. That is still a lot cheaper than driving an ICE, so I wouldn't worry about it.

With a referral code you will still get your first year of Supercharing free.

my referral code is: https://www.tesla.com/referral/richard7249

[PixelpeepS3]

Sagacitas said:

I can't see them reintroducing the free supercharging.

But at £0.20/kWh the most you could pay would be £15 (empty to 100%). Most of the time it is likely to be closer to £10. That is still a lot cheaper than driving an ICE, so I wouldn't worry about it.

With a referral code you will still get your first year of Supercharing free.

my referral code is: https://www.tesla.com/referral/richard7249

Hi Richard,

thanks for this - following the link only offers £100 credit rather than for the year, although its still better than nothing...

[Christmassss]

ntiz said:

Before I made the decision not to go for second Tesla it was this that put me on the spot. I had to decide before the 16th if I was going to order one and defer until next year.

As has already been said in the grand scheme of things its not that big a deal put personally the way I justify all the time I have spent at chargers is that I'm travelling for free. Paying to be inconvenienced for me would be a bit much.

That is of course just my personal preference. I do 25k+ a year in mine so I do spend quite a lot of time at chargers.

Speaking to the guys at WD it seems the referral system will still exist but only gives free charging for the first year.

This could actually be a big moment for the development of EVs as paying to charge starts to take hold. The rumour is that the Porsche Taycan cost to charge will not be that much cheaper than petrol.

Shell is putting chargers in that will cost 49p a KWh https://www.shell.co.uk/motorist/welcome-to-shell-...

Will be interesting if this slows the uptake of EVs at all. The tax man hasn't got involved yet either.

49p a KWH! By the time i have fed myself and the 4 mini me's in the local rip off costa/starbucks etc, i might as well have just filled up with petrol!

Serious question though, do you think the Government will start taxing recharging at filling stations?

[sjg]

I believe you still get 400kWh a year (approx 1000 miles) of free supercharging regardless.

For the typical owner who charges at home, that's plenty to cover the odd holiday or longer trip, given you'll be leaving the house with at least 200 miles of range in the first place. Even if you did burn through that, more is only 20p/kWh so way cheaper than petrol and not a big premium over typical home electricity cost.

It was a nice perk for the referral program but minimal impact to most. It will be a pain for people who do huge miles and/or entirely rely on superchargers.

[super7]

I'd be forgetting about Tesla full stop and be looking at ordering a new Merc for next year.... Tesla's first to market advantage is about to be wiped out and they haven't really taken full advantage of that.

And with Musk's erratic bvehaviour recently, i'm not sure i'd be wanting to sink £75k into anything to do with him....

[ntiz]

Christmassss said:

ntiz said:

Before I made the decision not to go for second Tesla it was this that put me on the spot. I had to decide before the 16th if I was going to order one and defer until next year.

As has already been said in the grand scheme of things its not that big a deal put personally the way I justify all the time I have spent at chargers is that I'm travelling for free. Paying to be inconvenienced for me would be a bit much.

That is of course just my personal preference. I do 25k+ a year in mine so I do spend quite a lot of time at chargers.

Speaking to the guys at WD it seems the referral system will still exist but only gives free charging for the first year.

This could actually be a big moment for the development of EVs as paying to charge starts to take hold. The rumour is that the Porsche Taycan cost to charge will not be that much cheaper than petrol.

Shell is putting chargers in that will cost 49p a KWh https://www.shell.co.uk/motorist/welcome-to-shell-...

Will be interesting if this slows the uptake of EVs at all. The tax man hasn't got involved yet either.

49p a KWH! By the time i have fed myself and the 4 mini me's in the local rip off costa/starbucks etc, i might as well have just filled up with petrol!

Serious question though, do you think the Government will start taxing recharging at filling stations?

Yes but I think it will only be once EVs are the majority not the minority. I guess there is a sort of critical mass point where they stop becoming a choice and become the norm. I imagine over the next 10-20 years governments will put the squeeze on ICE to get people to buy EVs new then once you don't really have a choice start to tax the "fuel".

Quite frankly the government simply can't afford not to at some point.

[Whatsmyname]

Does anyone know what they'll charge?

[Michaelbailey]

super7 said:

I'd be forgetting about Tesla full stop and be looking at ordering a new Merc for next year.... Tesla's first to market advantage is about to be wiped out and they haven't really taken full advantage of that.

And with Musk's erratic bvehaviour recently, i'm not sure i'd be wanting to sink £75k into anything to do with him....

This is expanding on my point. Do we really want to invest so much money into a company where hedge funders have bet billions against it?


And on the point of free charging I thought theyd have kept that in until Petrol & diesel engines were on the heavy decline and on the only 20p a kwh stuff. If tax isn't being taken off petrol and diesel something has to fill the gap and that's a mighty big gap! All electric taxed even household and commercial? (too a similar degree of petrol?)

And how good are ev's anyway? Huge mines necessary for the batteries (which currently are horribly inefficient), takes a huge amount of energy to refine, costs a huge premium over ICE, and takes a huge amount more time to refuel? Ev's may work better in the long run but I am almost certain they are far from the end solution!

[FeelingLucky]

super7 said:

I'd be forgetting about Tesla full stop and be looking at ordering a new Merc for next year.... Tesla's first to market advantage is about to be wiped out and they haven't really taken full advantage of that.

And with Musk's erratic bvehaviour recently, i'm not sure i'd be wanting to sink £75k into anything to do with him....

Musk's erratic bvehaviour ??

Concept car better than tried tested and in production car shocker.

Plus Mercedes fast charging network is leagues better than Tesla's

[The Selfish Gene]

Sagacitas said:

I can't see them reintroducing the free supercharging.

But at £0.20/kWh the most you could pay would be £15 (empty to 100%). Most of the time it is likely to be closer to £10. That is still a lot cheaper than driving an ICE, so I wouldn't worry about it.

With a referral code you will still get your first year of Supercharing free.

my referral code is: https://www.tesla.com/referral/richard7249

until they start taxing it or upping the costs.................stick with the ICE - known quantity and they make a better noise :-)

[gangzoom]

Michaelbailey said:

And how good are ev's anyway? Huge mines necessary for the batteries (which currently are horribly inefficient), takes a huge amount of energy to refine, costs a huge premium over ICE, and takes a huge amount more time to refuel? Ev's may work better in the long run but I am almost certain they are far from the end solution!

I think you should just stick to diesels, far better choice, am sure RangeRover will sell you one for cheap soon .

[2Btoo]

Christmassss said:

Serious question though, do you think the Government will start taxing recharging at filling stations?

That the government will start to tax electric vehicle is not in any doubt. They can't not do so. The question is when and how.

These ('when' and 'how') will be linked. Road charging and pay-per-mile is a reality just over the horizon, and the govt will tax electric cars in such a way as to raise as much revenue as they currently do from petrol and road tax combined - they won't be able to afford not to.

The question is what they do to the remnant ICE fleet. Do they include these in the pay-per-mile model, so you pay tax on fuel AND road tax AND pay-per-mile tax in an ICE car, but only pay-per-mile tax for an electric car? My suspicion is that they will, and thus encourage ICE cars off the road very swiftly from that point on.

[gangzoom]

ntiz said:

Before I made the decision not to go for second Tesla it was this that put me on the spot. I had to decide before the 16th if I was going to order one and defer until next year.

One irrational to this is those in the US who ordered a Performance Model 3 got supercharging free for life of the car, but those of us waiting for a chance to order a Performance 3 here in Europe wasn't given the same opportunity.

I would have happliy comitted to a Perfomance Model 3 now if free for life supercharging was thrown in.

[anonymous-user]

2Btoo said:

That the government will start to tax electric vehicle is not in any doubt. They can't not do so. The question is when and how.

These ('when' and 'how') will be linked. Road charging and pay-per-mile is a reality just over the horizon, and the govt will tax electric cars in such a way as to raise as much revenue as they currently do from petrol and road tax combined - they won't be able to afford not to.

The question is what they do to the remnant ICE fleet. Do they include these in the pay-per-mile model, so you pay tax on fuel AND road tax AND pay-per-mile tax in an ICE car, but only pay-per-mile tax for an electric car? My suspicion is that they will, and thus encourage ICE cars off the road very swiftly from that point on.

They’d need to be careful. ICE cars are going to be around in their millions for many years yet, EVs are way to expensive for the masses compared with similarly sized and equipped ICE cars.

Pricing millions of voters off the road won’t go well when it comes to an election.

I think it’ll continue to be a slow transition from ICE to EV as EVs get better, increase range and reduce in cost.

[SimonYorkshire]

I convert petrol vehicles to run on LPG

I haven't been on PH for quite a long time - since I realised I was wasting far too much time 'discussing' LPG on an EV fanatic's anti LPG thread and discussing EV's on an EV thread.

I did predict EV free charging would end - Of course it would.

I am busier than ever converting vehicles to run on LPG.

[Pica-Pica]

Domestic electricity has 5% VAT of course. What is the VAT at EV charge points?