Tesla has recently increased prices at its Supercharger stations, according to Electrek (via Engadget), after implementing a new pricing structure.
Until now, the company has charged drivers under a state / region pricing scheme. According to Electrek, the company is now moving to an individual charging station structure, to take local demand and power rates into consideration. The site pointed out that New York drivers were most recently charged a state-wide rate of $0.24 per kWh, which jumped 33 percent to $0.32 per kWh in New York City under the change, and notes that drivers in Europe have also reported increases.
The company hiked prices anywhere from 20 to 40 percent last year for pay-per-use customers. A spokesperson for Tesla told Electrek that the company is “adjusting Supercharging pricing to better reflect differences in local electricity costs and site usage,” and reiterated its talking points from 2018, saying that the company doesn’t plan to use the Supercharging stations as a profit center.
This change in the pricing scheme has came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would end its customer referral program, which allowed customers to gift six months of free charging to friends who also bought a Tesla. The move was a cost-cutting measure for the company, which turned a profit for the first time in two years last fall.
