[tavrobel]

What was the deal before this? Just free electricity?

This seems like a pretty fair and obvious way to move forward: the electricity isn't free, and it doesn't seem like they are attempting to turn a profit off of the electricity cost like a Gas station does. It curtails the externalities of Uber/Taxis freeloading off of infrastructure that has ongoing costs to maintain but provides a good value for buyers for a few longer distance trips.

[will_hughes]

(The other reply answering this seems to have been deleted)

It used to be unlimited supercharging. The assumption was that people would primarily charge at home, and use the supercharger only for long distance travelling.

It seems that in practice far too many people were using the supercharger as the only place to charge their vehicle, with a fair number of people using it for commercial purposes.

The Tesla Taxis at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam were apparently all using the supercharger facility, rather than setting up their own charging infrastructure.

Also, it wasn't, technically, 'free' - a supercharger fee was charged either on purchase of the car or afterwards.

[prostoalex]

> Also, it wasn't, technically, 'free' - a supercharger fee was charged either on purchase of the car or afterwards.

Not in the US, all Tesla vehicles ordered before January 15th of 2017 came with free supercharger access.

[dingaling]

> came with free supercharger access.

By no means 'free': there was a $2000 Supercharger access fee included in the purchase price of the S85, or $2500 to enable it after purchase for the S60.

Not available for the S40 variant which wasn't permitted to use the Superchargers.

[prostoalex]

I am not seeing it. Buying a new S today https://www.tesla.com/models/design offers the following premium options: autopilot - $5k, full self driving - $3k, premium package - $3.5k, smart air suspension - $2.5k, subzero - $1k, hi-fi sound - $2.5k, rear-facing seats - $4k, high-amperage onboard charger - $1.5k.

Everything else is included in the price of the vehicle and is standard https://www.tesla.com/models

Under specs they list

* Access to Tesla's expanding Supercharger network

* Mobile connector with 110 volt, 240 volt, and J1772 adapters

* 17" capacitive touchscreen

* Onboard maps and navigation with free updates for 7 years

* Automatic keyless entry

* ...

[dingaling]

It seems that once the S70 was released it was removed as an optional line-item across the range and was bundled into the final price. However owners of suitable non-S40 vehicles from before that point can still enable access for a fee ( they have the hardware already installed, it's a database flag change ).

"If your vehicle is eligible, the Supercharging upgrade option will be visible in the Available Upgrades section."

http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/enable-supercharging

The S40 has the hardware for Supercharging but is excluded by policy.

I'm only aware of this because a friend in the UK has been trying to work-out what's applicable in this market and Tesla's constant changes to the policy makes that difficult.

[tempestn]

Even if it's included standard, it's still priced in though, right? Same reason "Buy three tires; get the fourth free" isn't really free.

[prostoalex]

I guess we'll find out in 3 days after the Great Supercharger Unbundling occurs.

[zwily]

It is "free with your $100k purchase".

[crooked-v]

> What was the deal before this? Just free electricity?

Yes.