Tesla is trying again to get owners of older Model S and Model X with “unlimited free Supercharging for life” to give up the perk with a new offer.
For the first few years of selling Model S and Model X, Tesla was offering free Supercharging for the vehicle’s life.
It was a really enticing offer since you could technically not have to pay to power your vehicle ever. Of course, that’s if you don’t charge at home and only use the Supercharger network, which is not ideal for most people, but it is an extremely valuable perk for some power users.
In 2018, Tesla ended the perk after claiming that it was unsustainable – though it did temporarily bring it back as a sale incentive at times.
There are still today a few hundreds of thousands of Tesla vehicles with unlimited free Supercharging around the world.
Earlier this year, Tesla made a first effort to try to get those vehicles off the perk by offering owners an extra $5,000 discount if they trade in a Model S and Model X with unlimited free Supercharging.
Now Tesla is doubling down on this effort by launching what it calls a new “Ownership Loyalty Benefit.”
The automaker is offering those owners six years of unlimited Supercharging when buying a new Model S or Model X by the end of the quarter.
The offer makes it clear that the goal is to remove unlimited Supercharging:
Current Tesla Model S or Model X owners with active unlimited free Supercharging are eligible for 6 years of unlimited Supercharging. To qualify, owners must trade in or remove unlimited Supercharging from their vehicle and take delivery of a new Model S or Model X by June 30, 2023.
It sounds like you don’t have to trade in your older Model S or Model X vehicle when taking this offer, but if you decide not to give it back to Tesla, you will have to sign away your right to unlimited Supercharging to get six years of free Supercharging on your new Model S or Model X.
Electrek’s Take
This is an interesting offer. The Model S and Model X have become much better cars since 2018.
Top comment by A98u723
Seems to me the road warriors who get mileage reimbursement and who have a low cost of ownership are incentivized to not take the offer and instead run their car for as many miles as they can get out of it.
The cost is high for new S/X’s, and those purchasing one can likely afford the charging cost no matter what. Those itching for a new car may take them up, but then again those folks may not be itching for a new S/X.
So I imagine the uptake will be limited here.
Still looking forward to the day where there are tons of options at every exit and signage posting competitive pricing. This will happen, just a question of how soon.
You would basically get a much better version of your car and still get free Supercharging for six years. Now that’s not unlimited for the life of the vehicle, but who knows what is going to happen in six years.
It’s interesting that Tesla is just now trying hard to get people off of the unlimited free Supercharging just as it appears to try to make Supercharging a profit center – something it originally said it wouldn’t do.
With non-Tesla EV drivers now getting access to the network, it looks like Tesla is now looking to see what the Supercharger network would look like as a full-scale money-making charging network.
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