Tesla Motors has announced via its official blog that it will no longer offer lifetime free charging at its Supercharger network for new buyers. Starting in 2017, new Teslas will come only with a limited amount of free charging every year.
Up until now, every Tesla sold came with free, unlimited recharging at any Supercharger station in Tesla’s growing nationwide network. In today’s announcement, Tesla says any cars ordered after January 1, 2017, will come with just 400 kWh of complimentary Supercharging per year, which Tesla says is equivalent to roughly 1000 miles worth of range. (We’ve averaged 68 MPGe over 33,000 miles in our long-term Model S P85D; at that rate of consumption, 400 kWh is good for about 800 miles. For reference, 400 kWh of electricity contains the same energy as about 11.9 gallons of gasoline.) After that, owners will have to pay a “small fee” to recharge their cars.
How much is the fee? Tesla is being cagey about that point, saying only that “there will be a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally and cost less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car” and that “while prices may fluctuate over time and vary regionally based on the cost of electricity, our Supercharger Network will never be a profit center.”
In the announcement, Tesla reiterated its encouragement that “the best way to charge your car is either at home or at work, during the hours you’re not using it,” a policy the automaker began touting after Tesla owners in certain regions complained of long lines and insufficient access to certain Supercharger stations.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has tightened its belt on free Supercharger access: CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this year that the long-awaited $35,000 Tesla Model 3 will not include free Supercharger use.
Tesla says the new policy will not affect any current owners or any cars ordered before the end of 2016, as long as owners take delivery before April 1, 2017. The automaker says it will release more details about this program later in the year.
A version of this story originally appeared on Road & Track.
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