Tesla Supercharger rates rise suddenly in the USA
There’s been a sudden price hike at Supercharger stations across the USA. Rates doubled in some regions while in other states, tariffs increased by 20 to 40%. Tesla insists that the network “will never be a profit center” for the company.
The company-owned fast-charging network is coming under pressure which will only increase the more Tesla electric vehicles are coming onto the road. While sudden, the new tariffs do not come as a surprise.
Tesla had started to make changes to its Supercharger policies previously. Unlimited free access that early adopters enjoyed for example has never been an option for the Model 3 and had been limited for all other owners last year as well.
The new model is pay-per-use or PAYG. This means paying per kWh charged from a Supercharger station or per minute of using a station at locations where Tesla can’t officially “sell” electricity due to local restrictions.
Commenting on the latest changes to the rules, a Tesla spokesperson sent electrek the following statement: “We occasionally adjust rates to reflect current local electricity and usage. The overriding principle is that Supercharging will always remain significantly cheaper than gasoline, as we only aim to recover a portion of our costs while setting up a fair system for everyone.”
With the new rates, users in Tesla’s home market California are now paying 26 cents per kWh, also in dense areas like New York the rate has been adjusted to 24 cents per kWh.
As of now, it remains unclear if new tariffs will also be applied at the Supercharger stations in Europe.
Tesla recently banned commercial users such as cab companies for using its Superchargers worldwide (we reported). At the same time, other schemes such as workplace or the urban charging have been introduced. They follow a similar model as Tesla’s Destination chargers, that is slower charging at locations where the EVs are standing anyway, such as workplaces, hotels, parking garages, or lastly homes.
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