Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is planning to get rid of free supercharging.
Tesla Motors Inc announced in a blog post on Monday that free supercharging will stop on Jan. 1, 2017. This change applies to any customers that buy a Tesla vehicle after this period. Customers that bought their cars before this will still get free supercharging, but only for as long as their current vehicle lasts.
Tesla Motors Inc will still be giving customers some free charging after Jan. 1, 2017. Tesla owners that have bought their new vehicles after the new year will get 400 kWh of free supercharging credits per year. This comes to about 1,000 miles of free travel.
After Tesla Motors Inc customers have used up their free supercharging for the year, they will have to pay a fee to supercharge their vehicles. Tesla didn’t say how much this fee will be. However, the company did say that it will cost less than paying for a tank of gas in a comparable car.
Tesla Motors Inc said the changes to supercharging also won’t affect customers that have preordered any of its vehicles before Jan. 1, 2017. The catch is that those vehicles must be delivered to customers by April 1, 2017.
Tesla Motors Inc is planning to announce more details about changes to its supercharging later this year. The company notes that supercharging fees will also vary in price when introduced. This will be due to the cost of electricity changing in different areas. It also said that it never intends for supercharging to become a form of profit for it.
TSLA stock was up 1% as of Monday morning.
