One of the perks of owning a Tesla is access to its network of Supercharger stations, located along major highways in North America, Europe and Asia for quickly juicing up your ride on long drives.
The service was offered for free, but in November, the company said that it’d begin charging owners of new Teslas in 2017. That day is nearly upon us.
If you order a Tesla after January 15, you’ll get free credits towards 400 kWh of Supercharging, and they’re reset at the beginning of each year. The company says that’s good for roughly 1,000 miles of travel. After that, you’ll pay a fee that varies depending on where you’re refueling. Within the US, the cost varies by state.
It goes as low as $0.08 per minute for ‘Tier 1’ charging (below 60 kW, or if you’re sharing a Supercharger with another car) and up to $0.24 for ‘Tier 2’ charging (above 60 kW). In some states, you’ll be billed by the kWh. All fees will be charged to a credit card linked to your account, and you’ll be able to review your charging history online. It’s also worth noting that if you ordered a Tesla before January 15, you won’t have to pay for Supercharging for the entire lifetime of your vehicle.
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Going by Colorado’s $0.13 per kWh, that works out to about 4c per mile. That’s not bad at all – especially when you consider the fact that you only really need Superchargers to power up on long drives, and not for commuting within cities.
Errata: We mistakenly noted the per-mile cost for a Tesla to be 32c, while it’s closer to 5.2 c. We sincerely regret the error and have updated our post. That’s what happens when you’re bad at math. Stay in school, people.
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