[RahulNagaraj]

According to a media report, Tesla is planning to introduce a 'congestion fee' at its supercharger stations.

This comes following an update in 2019, when Tesla limited the car's charging to just 80% in order to reduce the charging time, especially during peak hours. Tesla explained that since most people don't charge to 100% and that the last 20% charges slowly - limiting the charging to 80% would greatly shorten charging sessions.



This feature though, was soon modified, allowing owners to manually change the charging back to 100%. However, now the carmaker is working on a 'congestion fee' for such manual changes.

As per reports, Tesla's latest software update for the Superchargers will set the state-of-charge at 80%. EV owners wanting more would have to pay an additional fee to lift the charging limit. There is no word though on the exact amount that will charged as a "congestion fee".

The new fee would be alongside the already instated 'Supercharger Idle fee', which applies when a car is parked even after it's done charging.

Source: Electrek

Link to Team-BHP news

[ohaak]

The infrastructure for EV charging will not scale with current technologies. I see it making complete sense to discourage charging to 100% on fast chargers. Also, chargers should be removable by people if the owner is not around and the charge cycle is complete.

[Nilesh5417]

That's Elon Musk for you funding this X dream! These things always look opportunistic if not deliberate. Sell cars without fast chargers and then charge extra for them. Then charge for charging at stations which is OK but don't build enough stations. Then charge for people not taking their cars beyond a certain % or set time. Crazy the stuff we end up paying for.

[BleueNinja]

That’s why I am hesitant jumping aboard the EV Train. I appreciate the ability to fuel up as per my requirements and fuel up quick minus the range anxiety and be on my way.

The lack of infrastructure or limited charging units are bound to push manufactures to come up with rules like these. Don’t get me wrong i get it why they are doing it and it makes sense else they would have eternal queues.

[Shreyans_Jain]

I think this is perfectly reasonable, especially if there are people waiting in queue. Fast charging above 80%, where charging speeds drop drastically, should come with an attached penalty to disincentivise it.

[sidoxic]

Completely sensible planning of demand and supply here - number 1 issues plaguing Indian charging infrastructure is most EV owners are adamant to charge to 100% on public fast chargers. The charging providers can do some education/awareness drives to discourage this. But that's some complicated high school maths - different pricing for hogging the infrastructure inefficiently is the best solution

[kaushikduttajsr]

Utter nonsense!

This is equivalent of restricting range to 80%. Why don't they also be a little honest and advertise the vehicle with reduced range "increase range by further xx kms by paying $ yy"

[Shresth_EV]

I see that most non EV owners are having a knee jerk reaction as if tesla is ripping them off somehow, but that’s totally not the case when you see the bigger picture :

1. Charging rate slows beyond 80 and unnecessarily hogs the charger. Imagine that the tyre air filling was done on same petrol dispenser. Would you wait 5min for the guy in front to fill air despite him being done with filling up?

2. Now that tesla is opening up the charger network to all NACS compatible EVs, there would be much more EVs coming to supercharger not all of whom would be aware enough. Why should tesla owners (generally seen to be aware) suffer at their own charger at hands of others ignorance?

3. Many people treat chargers as free parking which should not be the case. If you’re done charging, move along.

This excess fee is no different from meter penalty that home and business owners need to pay to electricity board if they exceed the power draw rated for their meter.

[RMN]

Slightly OT - but is the general understanding that these chargers eventually will move to a pay-to-use model?

[StarrySky]

Congestion fee is not new. Here in Finland many public charging stations charge an additional 0.2€ per minute, if the DC charging session goes beyond 45 minutes. This applies irrespective of whether the charger is capable of 50kW, or 100kW or 200kW charging.

These days most newly launched EVs can charge 10-80% within 35 minutes, if the charger is capable of around 150kW, but probably not with a 50kW charger. With a 50kW charger, the congestion charge becomes an annoyance.

Even AC charging sessions over 2 hours cost 0..02€ per minute extra. But, they often support 22kW AC charging, which is beyond what most EVs support.

[itspatra]

Originally Posted by ohaak

The infrastructure for EV charging will not scale with current technologies. I see it making complete sense to discourage charging to 100% on fast chargers. Also, chargers should be removable by people if the owner is not around and the charge cycle is complete.

Sorry I don't get it. Why would you want to remove the charger when the owner is not around. The vehicle would still be parked in the parking spot. How would that help?

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by RMN

Slightly OT - but is the general understanding that these chargers eventually will move to a pay-to-use model?

All DC chargers are pay-to-use now. In the initial days, Tesla offered free supercharging but that's been stopped.

Charging infra guzzles capital and free to use is not sustainable.

[volkman10]

Tesla begins introducing congestion fees at busy superchargers.

Fully charging any NACS-equipped vehicle could soon get much more expensive at busy Superchargers.

As of now, these fees will be applied to “certain” Supercharging stations in the United States. Tesla says that if a station “is busy” these congestion fees will automatically apply, even if there are stalls available. And like idle fees, congestion fees will also apply for owners with vehicles that have free lifetime Supercharging access, but only after the vehicle has finished charging.




Link:

[mohanphadnis]

if this happened here, tata owners would be paying congestion fees at every charge, because company tells them to charge to 100% everytime

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

That's Elon Musk for you funding this X dream! These things always look opportunistic if not deliberate. Sell cars without fast chargers and then charge extra for them. Then charge for charging at stations which is OK but don't build enough stations. Then charge for people not taking their cars beyond a certain % or set time. Crazy the stuff we end up paying for.

It is deliberate for when supercharging stations are busy and I dont think Tesla is stating otherwise anyway. Charging to 80% is really quick and actually saves time if you need multiple supercharging stops along the way - 3 quick supercharging stops to 80% vs 2 longer supercharging stops where you charge to 100% - tthe 80% option would actually save time.

I dont know where X comes in all of this or opportunism. Tesla is still the only EV company with their own supercharging network and it happens to be the largest fast charging network in the world. Its no small feat.