Elon Musk in Munich: "Free long-distance trave for ALL FUTURE VEHICLES!!!"

Does that also mean that there is no longer a $2000 surcharge for SuperCharger access?

No, the fee stays and will probably be there in the feature also.
"Oh, you do not need long distance traveling? Splendid, let's substract another 2000 from the price!"

This sort of sounds like when Nikola Tesla went off the rails. He wanted free wireless power for everybody.

Clearly they're going to have to stop at some point. Even building in the cost of electricity to a battery pack seems hard. Even if the pack is 15 years old at at let's say 40% capacity, you can still get a lot of free miles. Think of all the used Tesla's on the road getting free power...

You know some people are cheap bastards and they would run to the supercharger out of the way just to get free electricy vs charging at home. I know these people.

No worries. Other car manufacturers will have to buy licenses to let their customers use Tesla's infrastructure. Those licenses won't come cheap and will pay for our electricity, too. :-D (Pure speculation, of course.)

AWDtsla said:

This sort of sounds like when Nikola Tesla went off the rails. He wanted free wireless power for everybody.

Clearly they're going to have to stop at some point. Even building in the cost of electricity to a battery pack seems hard. Even if the pack is 15 years old at at let's say 40% capacity, you can still get a lot of free miles. Think of all the used Tesla's on the road getting free power...

You know some people are cheap bastards and they would run to the supercharger out of the way just to get free electricy vs charging at home. I know these people.

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Agree.

In the end maybe you will not pay in terms of money, but in terms of waiting for an available charger spot.

Exciting news for shareholders but concerned for road trippers, maybe "Giga Superchargers" are being planned, how many will Barstow or Harris Ranch need on holiday weekends?

Benz said:

No, it will be just like with the Tesla Model S. If you buy a Generation3 vehicle with a smaller battery pack, then you will have to pay an extra $2,000 for the Supercharger option (just like the 60kWh Model S).

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I realize that. I just wish Elon would stop using the word "Free", because the moment people say "free" it inevitably invites comments about how freeloaders will abuse it etc. (E.g. see posts 5, 7 on this thread).

We've proven multiple times that $2000 is more than enough to perpetually fund the SuperCharger network. However, for messaging purposes the wording needs to be "prepaid" - not "free".

"free" is a catchy albeit misleading term in this case. "no per use fee" is more accurate but less catchy

To summarize many of the previous few posts: there is no word in marketing more powerful than "Free!".

772 said:

"free" is a catchy albeit misleading term in this case. "no per use fee" is more accurate but less catchy

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Indeed, and that is why it is very likely they will offer this with Gen III (the $1,000 to $2,500 charged or built into base cost will cover cost to expand the network).

However let's not inadvertently put words in Elon's mouth,

Elon did not announce that all future cars would have free SuperCharging. He said "the general principal of having free long distance travel, we want to try to keep that consistent for all future vehicles"

So, again, I think it is most likely going to happen, but he did not promise or announce this. Given the scrutiny Tesla receives from its critics, I think this is more than a technicality that he expressed aspiration but not a promise.


Outside of that point I also find this quite exciting. As I've seen several people point out, this will clearly require more SuperChargers (barring some new solution to long distance travel), so I really like the idea that perhaps as there come to be millions of Teslas on the road, the network will become far more dense. Imagine the SuperChargers spaced 50 miles apart... or even 25 miles apart, that would be really nice added value as a customer.

As to people taking advantage of the no per use ~free aspect of the system... I think Tesla could reasonably put some kind of software limitation that does not allow you to use a SuperCharger within X miles of your home more than Y times per year (i.e., "no, this is free long distance travel, not a replacement of home charging if you happen to live very close to one of our SuperChargers").

deonb said:

I realize that. I just wish Elon would stop using the word "Free", because the moment people say "free" it inevitably invites comments about how freeloaders will abuse it etc. (E.g. see posts 5, 7 on this thread).

We've proven multiple times that $2000 is more than enough to perpetually fund the SuperCharger network. However, for messaging purposes the wording needs to be "prepaid" - not "free".

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And then You take into account them putting solar on most if not all of them and I think it will be pretty self sustaining. I get why there is no solar right now since they are trying to make the network as large as they can as fast as they can. I anticipate their plan after 2015 will be to upgrade them all to be solar, so they for sure self fund, and it will be "free" power.

'Free' is a pretty good description. At least they're not saying 'no charge'! That would be a bad idea. Anyway I think it's understood that nothing is ever "free", really. But if the term is to be used, it's fine here. After you buy your car after all, supercharging is free of charge. Easy. The initial fee you paid on your car isn't relevant, otherwise you're somehow deciding how much profit the company should make. (If they remove the 'fee' and raise the base price $2000, is that ok? Why not?)

Anyway this is largely irrelevant. 'SteveG3' above makes all the correct points in his post. Assuming this happens, it's going to be a huge draw for Model E, and is a big step toward the Tesla goal of massive EV adoption IMO.

Johann Koeber said:

Agree.

In the end maybe you will not pay in terms of money, but in terms of waiting for an available charger spot.

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The charging rate will not remain static. Started at 90 kWh then upgraded to120 kWh. 135 kWh is coming soon.

In six to eight years you will be able to supercharge at one miler per second or 300 miles in 5 minutes.

This boggles the mind of the petrol head, some get quite angry saying it can't possibly be true. The compounded yearly efficiency gains of solar panels, battery density/cost , and light weight materials seem like magic today but will be common place in the near future.

SteveG3 said:

As to people taking advantage of the no per use ~free aspect of the system... I think Tesla could reasonably put some kind of software limitation that does not allow you to use a SuperCharger within X miles of your home more than Y times per year (i.e., "no, this is free long distance travel, not a replacement of home charging if you happen to live very close to one of our SuperChargers").

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Yes, a feature like this would be great. There are times when you might need (well not "need" but be very convenient) to supercharge close to home, but putting a limitation on the number of uses would still be keeping with the spirit of free long distance travel.

Benz said:

Allow me to disagree with you. The $2,000 is for the hardware that is required to be able to use the Supercharger stations, but the electricity that you charge into your battery pack actually is for free, meaning that there is no amount to be paid each time that you use the Supercharger stations.

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What hardware are you referring to?

jeff_adams said:

What hardware are you referring to?

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The circuits from the charge port that go directly to the batteries bypassing the onboard chargers. (Although I think I recall that all 60 kWh cars have this hardware installed, and the $2000 is just to activate it. I don't know if that's still true.)

jerry33 said:

The circuits from the charge port that go directly to the batteries bypassing the onboard chargers. (Although I think I recall that all 60 kWh cars have this hardware installed, and the $2000 is just to activate it. I don't know if that's still true.)

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Yeah, when they were ORIGINALLY talking about it, back in the day, they said that they were just going to eat the cost of putting the hardware in the car, because they believed that everyone would eventually want it. Paying the 2000 just helps them recoup that loss (and balance it back into the black I'm sure).