- So in this video today,
we're going to be answering a question
that I got after watching
a popular video on YouTube,
and it's a question I think
a lot of people might have
if you're not familiar with a Tesla
and if you don't own one,
which personally I do not,
and I don't really have any
friends who own one either,
and that question is whether or not
Tesla supercharging is free
or do you have to pay for it?
Because at the end of the day,
if the Tesla supercharging
is in fact free,
that could be a much bigger reason
to switch over to this electric vehicle
as opposed to paying for
gas every single week
or every time you're at the pump.
Now, the reason why this
question popped into my head
is because I was watching a
Ryan Trahan video the other day
where he was driving across the country
using Tesla Autopilot
to see if you could
actually accomplish this,
and in that video he mentioned
that this was completely free.
So check out that clip now.
- Okay, first of all, cost.
Literally, this trip was free.
Apart from food, it cost us $0
to drive across the country.
That's insane.
I mean, what other cars can do that?
None, there's none.
- So, personally, after
I watched this video,
I was totally stumped
because I said I had no idea
that Tesla charging was free.
But here's the thing, guys.
It's not free in all cases.
So it's one of those scenarios
here where the answer
is a little bit more
complicated than meets the eye,
and that's we're gonna
answer in this video today.
And like I said, guys, I figured
a lot of people were
curious about this topic
and had this question themselves.
And if you are one of these people
that doesn't know whether or
not Tesla charging was free,
go ahead and drop a Like on
this video just so I know.
Maybe it was just me and I'm an idiot,
but I'm thinking that more than one person
had this question about
the Tesla charging.
All right, guys, so before we get into
whether or not Tesla charging is free,
I wanna quickly go over
what types of Teslas
are currently available for sale.
And no, I'm not doing this
so I can conveniently fit
a mid-roll ad in this video.
It is relevant to whether
or not the charging is free
because it only applies
to certain vehicles.
So, first of all, we
have the Tesla Model S,
which is the high-end sedan,
which starts at $75,000.
Then we have the Tesla
Model X, which is the SUV,
with a starting price of $81,000.
And then finally, we
have the Tesla Model 3,
which is the more affordable sedan,
with a starting price
of, wait for it, $35,000.
Now, there are a couple of
other Tesla products out there
like the brand new Model Y,
the Tesla truck, the Tesla Roadster,
but those vehicles are not
available for purchase right now
so they are irrelevant to this video.
Now, some of the vehicles
that I just mentioned
do have unlimited free
supercharging, but not all of them.
So let me go ahead and explain that now.
All right, guys, so if you've
been living under a rock
for the last 10 years or so,
let's do a quick recap on Tesla
and the supercharging stations.
So Tesla makes purely electric vehicles
that do not have any gasoline.
So, basically, you have to
drive to charging stations
to charge your vehicle
or you can charge it from
the comfort of your own home
with a home charging unit.
Now, when you're charging
your vehicle at home,
it can take 10 to 12 hours
for a complete charge.
But these Tesla superchargers
are able to charge your vehicle
at a much faster speed and in most cases,
it will charge your vehicle
in about 30 minutes.
Now, originally, guys, the
deal with these Tesla vehicles
was that you had unlimited
free supercharging
for all vehicles that they offered.
Yes, that is right,
you heard that correct.
Unlimited charging for
the life of the vehicle.
Now, it's important to remember here
that if you're not paying
the cost of the charging,
then Tesla themselves is
because they still have to pay
for the electricity use at
these supercharging stations.
And then not surprisingly,
on January 1st of 2017,
Elon Musk had to basically
go back on this and say,
Look, this is just not
sustainable long-term.
We can't be paying for
all of this charging
for the life of a Tesla vehicle.
It was essentially used
as a marketing gimmick
or marketing promotion to get
more people to buy a Tesla
because they wouldn't have to pay
for any of the vehicle charging
at the supercharger stations.
However, when it came down
to actually making money,
this was just not a
wise business decision.
So what they were offering people instead
is free charging of 400 kWh per year
at the supercharger stations,
which is about 1,000 miles of range.
Then at that point, anything beyond that,
they would have to pay
for the superchargers.
And stick around to the end of the video
where we'll talk about
exactly how much that costs.
Now, Tesla has also run
different promotions
over the last couple of years.
For example, there was one promotion
where if you referred a friend,
you or that friend were in fact eligible
for free charging at the stations.
So they've had different
promotions that go on and off.
And even the current
promotion that we're going
to discuss now likely will
not be in place forever
because at the end of the day,
this is a ploy used to sell more Teslas.
And if sales naturally
take off on their own,
then Tesla will no longer
have to incentivize
the purchasing of these vehicles
through that free charging being offered.
In August of 2019,
Tesla brought back this free-charging perk
for the Model S and the Model X vehicle,
aka the expensive ones.
So anybody who purchased
a Model S or Model X
after August 3rd of 2019 gets
the unlimited free charging.
And anybody who purchased these vehicles
in between January 1st,
2017 and that date,
well, unfortunately, you
do not get this perk.
So that begs the question,
what about the cheaper Model 3,
does that come with any kind of incentive?
Well, as far as I can tell
here, as of September 2019,
you get two free years
of unlimited charging
when you purchase a Model 3,
which is still a pretty good incentive
if you're looking to offset
some of the costs of that vehicle.
But it probably financially
just doesn't make sense for them
as the Model 3 is likely going
to be their largest seller
to go out there and offer
free lifetime charging on this vehicle.
So in a nutshell here, guys,
if you own a Tesla Model S or a Model X
and you purchased it in
between the timeframe
when they suspended the
unlimited free charging
and then brought it back,
well, you unfortunately
pay for your Tesla charging
beyond that 400 kWh per year.
Now, if you own a Tesla Model
3, to the best of my ability,
what I could determine is that you get
a two-year free credit
for unlimited charging,
but beyond that, you do pay
for the Tesla supercharging stations.
And if you are one of the fortunate people
who bought the Tesla
Model S or the Model X
while they were running that promotion,
then yes, your Tesla
charging is free, unlimited
for the life of that
vehicle, which is incredible.
Now, from a business standpoint,
I have no idea how Tesla
is affording to do this
in the first place.
But as we know, Elon Musk is
known for breaking boundaries
and doing things that
nobody has ever done before.
(window glass smashing)
- Oh my god, well.
- [Audience] Oh!
- So, obviously, I'm sure
people have thought it through
and it is somehow cost-effective
when it comes down to growing market share
and getting more people behind
the wheel of a Tesla vehicle.
Now, assuming that you do in fact pay
for the supercharging stations,
well, let's talk about how
much that is going to cost you
and the answer is, again,
a little bit weird here
because you have two different scenarios.
Some of the Tesla charging stations
are going to bill you based on kWh,
which is the most fair way to bill you.
That would be like a
gas station billing you
for every gallon of gas
that you put into your tank.
Now, not all of those stations
are able to bill in that manner
and so some of the other stations bill you
based on the time you're using the station
on a per-minute basis.
And it gets even more confusing from there
because we have two different tiers
of the per-minute billing
based on how fast you are
charging your vehicle.
So tier one is the slower-charging
which is a speed of 60 kW or slower,
and tier two is the faster-charging,
which is above 60 kW.
Now, Tesla sets these prices
and they do have the
ability to change them.
But as of right now, in most locations,
the kWh price is 28
cents per kilowatt hour.
Tier one is 13 cents a minute
and tier two charging is
26 minutes per minute.
However, it is more
expensive in some locations.
For example, Manhattan, it does cost more
for charging your Tesla vehicle.
Now, lastly, guys, I wanna
answer the question here
of is this cheaper than gas?
So assuming that you are in fact paying
for your Tesla charging
at these superchargers,
is it actually cost-effective?
Well, the Model 3 standard range
has a 54-kWh lithium-ion battery
and that means that a full
charge would cost $15.12
at a cost of 28 cents per kWh.
And on a full charge,
the standard range Model
3 has a 250 mile range.
So if we do the math on that, guys,
that comes out to a cost
per mile of six cents.
Now, for comparison's sake,
let's look at the Toyota Camry,
which has a mile-per-gallon
range of 29 city and 41 highway.
So if we do that smack-dab in the middle,
we're gonna call it 35 miles per gallon.
Now, here in New York
Upstate where I live,
the cost for a gallon of gas
is currently 2.65 per gallon.
So if you do the math on that, guys,
you are paying 7.6 cents per
mile for a comparable gas sedan
versus paying six cents per mile
for a Tesla electric vehicle,
the Model 3, in this case.
So the answer here is, right
now based on current kWh prices
and current fuel prices, it
is cheaper for fueling up
with electricity at a supercharger station
than it is to fill up
for gas at a gas station.
So, anyways, guys, that is
gonna wrap up this video.
I hope you enjoyed it.
If you have other people
who maybe asking themself
the same question
about whether or not
Tesla charging is free,
feel free to share this
video with a friend.
I would certainly appreciate that.
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