Tesla is set to introduce the concept of “congestion fees” to its superchargers. With the new congestion fee, if you charge your Tesla beyond a certain battery percentage at a busy Supercharger location, you will have to pay more.
This is likely an effort to further deter a Tesla with a battery that’s almost full from hogging a supercharger that has a lot of people with lower battery percentages waiting to use it.
Electric car batteries have this thing called a “charging curve” where charging is faster when the battery is close to empty and exponentially becomes slower as the battery gets close to full.
So while not technically hogging, if there are a lot of people waiting to use the supercharger, it is considered a waste of resources if you continue to use a supercharger beyond a level of 80% as charging your battery from 80% to 100% will happen at a slower rate than charging from 20% to 80%.
Previously with idle fees, you are charged a fee if you remain connected to the supercharger after your battery is full, but there is no deterrent for the 80% to 100% mark.
The post Tesla to introduce “congestion fee” for Superchargers – higher fees if you charge to full at a busy charger appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
