Tesla recently unveiled an incentive for owners of their Model S or Model X vehicles: free charging.
Tesla's pricing shift has been extremely unpredictable. Since January 1st, six price cuts were implemented with each price reduction offering additional compensation than what would normally be provided due to price increases. Furthermore, new buyers of Model S or X vehicles also now benefit from an offer which provides more than sufficient compensation.
Kilowatts Twitter reported this new incentive was discovered by owners last week as an incentive to upgrade older vehicles that provided free supercharging access, according to reports by Model S or Model X owners themselves. Now, this offer extends to all new models S or X owners as well.
Many drivers have taken advantage of free supercharging to experience its savings over an entire year, making this incentive very potent. Imagine not paying fuel charges for three full years: this could be life changing for anyone new to car ownership!
Tesla introduced this benefit because free supercharging is so attractive. Their first vehicles sold were sold with free unlimited supercharging capabilities; since then they have tried to convince customers to drop this benefit, though its success remains unclear.
Tesla is not alone in offering incentives for charging; Nissan also provides its own charging network, known as Supercharging Network.
Ford, Hyundai Kia and General Motors all offer customers free or reduced rate charging through partners such as Chargepoint/Electrify America; however no company has offered such an aggressive and long-term incentive as three years free charging.
Automakers need to increase incentives both in terms of quantity and value to attract more EV customers, particularly in the United States where Tesla still dominates this market.
