[Chris TX]

Tesla just reset their Referral Program, today.

For the first five orders with the Friends and Family referral code, that turn into deliveries of a Model S or Model X, they get free Supercharging for the life of the car!

IN ADDITION to this, existing owners will get free Supercharging on any new Model S or Model X they purchase!

"You have free, unlimited Supercharging, including your current Tesla and any new Model S or Model X you purchase. If you choose to sell your current Tesla, free Supercharging will transfer to the next owner. In addition, up to five friends you refer will also receive free Supercharging. "

I do love the free Supercharging on my Model S, but now the temptation to trade in is even greater! Too bad they don't have green, anymore.

And as always, the referral code will get you $1000 off the purchase of a newly ordered Model S/X. In some countries, this could be worth more or less. In Europe, it's a 1000 Euros discount.

For anyone that needs the discount code, there's only 5 so think fast!
http://ts.la/kelly6703

 

[Steverino]

I suspect Bro1999 will be jumping on this deal

 

[BAZINGA]

Gotta give EM and Tesla props, they are agile. They can tweak their business model over night. And yes if I could squeeze a new MS75 into my retirement budget I'd jump on this. And to be honest what is this actually going to cost them?

 

[Neromanceres]

I think the big question is why Tesla feels the need to do this again?

At the end of the day free charging programs are fundamentally flawed in the long term.

 

[Taser54]

Gotta give EM and Tesla props, they are agile. They can tweak their business model over night. And yes if I could squeeze a new MS75 into my retirement budget I'd jump on this. And to be honest what is this actually going to cost them?

reads as discounting, things that car manufacturers and dealers do all the time.

In this case, the value is trivial off of MSRP. And if you really look into it, it's not free supercharging at all as the price of free supercharging was already baked into the MSRP when Tesla took it away. Tesla is just allowing a new owner to keep what he paid for (subject to the inevitable post-hoc changes in terms of use).

 

[Mister Dave]

I suspect Bro1999 will be jumping on this deal

Taunting remark?

I think the big question is why Tesla feels the need to do this again?

At the end of the day free charging programs are fundamentally flawed in the long term.

Recent bad press perhaps. The workplace story hit the business channels as of yesterday.

I agree that anything "lifetime" is flawed. I'd use a stronger term though: BS. It's an easy thing to say and a nearly impossible thing to prove.

 

[Bacardi]

Tesla does have a history of "sweetening the deal" at the end of the quarter, that included discounting, offering a new entry model or the two year lease...This is there way of advertising...

 

[Chris TX]

I suspect Bro1999 will be jumping on this deal

He doesn't like to keep cars very long, so this could be a record for him. Or just be like Woz and use the Bolt for the daily beater, and have a Model S as a weekend, long trips, fun car.

 

[llninja]

I suspect Bro1999 will be jumping on this deal

Followed by jupitermoon jumping on anything bro says.

 

[llninja]

Gotta give EM and Tesla props, they are agile. They can tweak their business model over night. And yes if I could squeeze a new MS75 into my retirement budget I'd jump on this. And to be honest what is this actually going to cost them?

A $1000 discount plus lifetime supercharging on a nearly 6 figure vehicle isn't enough to cause me to jump at a model S or X. Give me a $10k discount then I might jump. Sadly, I cannot touch my retirement nest egg without penalty yet. If I could, I might just cash in the recent investment gains in my 401Ks to get a really nice retirement car. Just in the last year, I've seen a $300k increase. Yes, that's plucking from an opportunistic data point, I know it's not always going to be the case. Shooting for the moon just once (or maybe once a decade) on a nice vehicle won't clobber the nest egg. I've got 8 years and 3 months to wait. So I can accelerate the wait by saving like crazy now to be able to afford to buy something nice sooner with non-retirement funds.

 

[Mister Dave]

A $1000 discount plus lifetime supercharging on a nearly 6 figure vehicle isn't enough to cause me to jump at a model S or X. Give me a $10k discount then I might jump. Sadly, I cannot touch my retirement nest egg without penalty yet. If I could, I might just cash in the recent investment gains in my 401Ks to get a really nice retirement car. Just in the last year, I've seen a $300k increase. Yes, that's plucking from an opportunistic data point, I know it's not always going to be the case. Shooting for the moon just once (or maybe once a decade) on a nice vehicle won't clobber the nest egg. I've got 8 years and 3 months to wait. So I can accelerate the wait by Avignon like crazy now to be able to afford to buy something nice sooner with non-retirement funds.

You've got plenty of time, and by the time you're ready Tesla may have something that fits your needs. Or someone else will.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I think the big question is why Tesla feels the need to do this again?

At the end of the day free charging programs are fundamentally flawed in the long term.

Maybe someone built a better EV taxi, so fewer Uber/Lyft drivers are occupying Supercharger stalls?

While I disagree with the free charging model, I feel it can be done properly. It has to be a limited audience. I think of it like communism: It works with small groups and small populations. The way Tesla implemented it initially was flawed. This strategy might work better.

 

[llninja]

Maybe someone built a better EV taxi, so fewer Uber/Lyft drivers are occupying Supercharger stalls?

While I disagree with the free charging model, I feel it can be done properly. It has to be a limited audience. I think of it like communism: It works with small groups and small populations. The way Tesla implemented it initially was flawed. This strategy might work better.

I highly doubt there are many Uber/Lyft drivers rolling in Teslas. I think the most common demographic of a Uber/Lyft driver is someone in their 20s/30s who spent too much for a new car and needs to use the service to make a little extra cash. No amount of free charging can offset the huge expense of a new Tesla model S or X. The model 3, on the other hand, might be a great Uber/Lyft vehicle there you might be able to earn enough money to pay for the car - it all depends on how much you can hustle and grind to get high paying rides (and have the foresight to get your reservation in early). Alas, the model 3 is probably arriving too late to be able to take advantage of this particular offer

 

[Ladogaboy]

We have quite a few Model S Uber drivers out here in Southern California. I do believe they get an additional bonus for using a car like the Tesla, so it's not just about the free charging. My understanding is that an Uber "Black" driver will get about two to three times the rate that a standard Uber driver gets, and the Model S qualifies.

 

[Chris TX]

We have quite a few Model S Uber drivers out here in Southern California. I do believe they get an additional bonus for using a car like the Tesla, so it's not just about the free charging. My understanding is that an Uber "Black" driver will get about two to three times the rate that a standard Uber driver gets, and the Model S qualifies.

Yeah, Uber Black or Uber Lux gets a big premium for Teslas. There's quite a few people that do that full time, and it pays for the car along with their regular monthly bills.

 

[llninja]

Yeah, Uber Black or Uber Lux gets a big premium for Teslas. There's quite a few people that do that full time, and it pays for the car along with their regular monthly bills.

I'd love to see if it really does pay for the car. The miles getting put on the car destroys the resale value, the owner needs to cover the car plus eat. Does it really pay for itself with all expenses considered?

 

[saghost]

I think the big question is why Tesla feels the need to do this again?

At the end of the day free charging programs are fundamentally flawed in the long term.

Agreed. After reading about Tesloop and others like them, many of us were quite convinced that unlimited would never be seen again - Tesla has to be losing money on every car that they sell to someone who drives ~150k Supercharged miles per year at any price.

What's more, this isn't just free supercharging for the life of the car - they've now upped the ante to include any S or X that any current owner buys in the future as well (though the 3 is quite explicitly exempted from all of this.)

I'm not at all sure what to make of this - I was quite sure it would never happen after the way Tesla had been being exploited.

 

[Ladogaboy]

Agreed. After reading about Tesloop and others like them, many of us were quite convinced that unlimited would never be seen again - Tesla has to be losing money on every car that they sell to someone who drives ~150k Supercharged miles per year at any price.

What's more, this isn't just free supercharging for the life of the car - they've now upped the ante to include any S or X that any current owner buys in the future as well (though the 3 is quite explicitly exempted from all of this.)

I'm not at all sure what to make of this - I was quite sure it would never happen after the way Tesla had been being exploited.

I think there has to be some sort of economy of scale that offsets this. They could be banking on the fact that most people won't drive more than even 30,000 miles a year on the supercharger.

But this has to be in response to something. Maybe Model S/X sales are slowing? Maybe they know the Model 3 is going to flood their existing Supercharger locations? Maybe they are worried that they don't have enough market share with so many companies bringing their own 200+ mile EVs onto the market.

 

[jupitermoon]

Ouch that must hurt Tesla haters lol

 

[Chris TX]

Agreed. After reading about Tesloop and others like them, many of us were quite convinced that unlimited would never be seen again - Tesla has to be losing money on every car that they sell to someone who drives ~150k Supercharged miles per year at any price.

What's more, this isn't just free supercharging for the life of the car - they've now upped the ante to include any S or X that any current owner buys in the future as well (though the 3 is quite explicitly exempted from all of this.)

I'm not at all sure what to make of this - I was quite sure it would never happen after the way Tesla had been being exploited.

As a Model S owner, I really think the S/X:3 ratio is going to easily offset Supercharging costs. With the Model 3 having only ~1000 miles of free Supercharging per year, this leaves the Model S/X with the free lifetime Supercharging. The margins built into the S/X will more than cover the kWh costs and the Model 3 owners will pay for their electricity.

Supercharging is becoming more and more viable as a marketing tool, and a genuine enabler of low to no pollution transportation. That fits in nicely with Tesla's mission statement, and nobody should be surprised.

I can see other OEMs getting on the Supercharger bandwagon soon, and they will also help feed the network. For those that don't see the big picture, it will be obvious in a few months when Supercharger V3 is released.