If the company hits its production goals, it will be faced with the potential of having to provide free charges to upwards of 500,000 Model 3 cars for the life of the vehicles, which would become cost-prohibitive.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, at Tesla’s annual shareholder’s meeting, the company’s CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel along with other Tesla executives spoke about many other things rather than just discussing the earnings for the year.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, has indicated that owners of its upcoming auto – the Tesla Model 3, will not be given free lifetime access to the company’s supercharging stations.
The privilege is free to owners of the Model S and Model X, but Model 3 buyers will need to purchase a special package.
Tesla Superchargers are free charging stations that can charge Tesla’s electric cars in a matter of minutes – they are typically located along the most popular routes in North America, Europe and Asia.
Second, the negative. Elon suggested for the first time that Supercharging will not be free to Tesla Model 3 owners, though available as an optional “package”. Panasonic Corp., the supplier of battery cells for the Model S and the Model X sport utility vehicle, is an investor in the plant.
Jose Ordonez, a Redwood City resident who has reserved two Model 3s, said he had no problem with Tesla charging extra for the service. However Musk said, Apple might not be able to offer cars in the consumer space until 2020.
Advertisement
Musk argued this was necessary to keep the purchase price low on the Model 3, which is expected to travel 215 miles between full charges. Made from the same fabric as the cars’ seats, the bags are part of a new selection of branded products as Tesla attempts to profit as much as it can off its brand’s image. “Obviously that has, fundamentally, a cost”, Musk said. The company had to delay the Falcon Heavy launch – Musk says the company hopes to launch it by the end of the year.
