Tesla Model 3 owners won’t get free supercharging for life, says Elon Musk

CALIFORNIA: Tesla Motors will likely charge owners of its forthcoming Model 3 sedan to use the company’s network of Supercharging stations, which is free to owners of current models, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Tuesday.

“Free Supercharging fundamentally has a cost,” Musk, 44, said on Tuesday during Tesla’s annual shareholders meeting, held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. “The obvious thing to do is decouple that from the cost of the Model 3. So it will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, to drive long-distance with the Model 3, but it will not be free long distance for life unless you purchase that package.”

Musk did not provide further details as to what the package may cost consumers. Tesla’s Supercharging stations, typically located at malls on highways between major cities, aim to ease “range anxiety” and enable long-distance — even coast-to-coast — driving in Tesla’s all-electric cars. Use of any of the 632 Superchargers in the world is free for customers of the Model S and Model X, but Tesla has found that some customers go to their local Superchargers out of habit. The Superchargers deliver 170 miles of range in 30 minutes, more than 10 times the range provided by other chargers, according to the company’s website.