Tesla Motors chief
Elon Musk can put rockets into space. But, can he stop electric-vehicle owners from parking their cars for too long at the company's Supercharger stations? He sure plans to try.
Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles have been taking to Twitter to complain about other Tesla owners who charge up their vehicles at Superchargers and don't retrieve the vehicles when the charging is done, effectively blocking the station from being used by other drivers. Like the US president-elect, Musk is no stranger to using Twitter to get his messages out, and in this case, he appears to sympathize. "Will take action," Musk tweeted recently, responding to one particular complaint about so-called 'evholes.'
What he'll do is anyone's guess, but that doesn't mean other Twitter users were short on suggestions. Many suggested the concept of having Tesla charge users a fee when their charging goes beyond pre-set levels, which, given the level of communication Tesla has with its cars' owners, wouldn't be too difficult. One Twitter user suggested programming the car of the offending user to drive off by itself once it figures out that it's been parked for two long. Which is actually pretty funny, and would require something like that creepy robot arm to be deployed at Superchargers.
Of course, with free services such as Supercharging, there will always be abuse. And Tesla is putting an end to such free services. Last month, the California-based company said it would end lifetime free Supercharging for Teslas that are ordered after Jan. 1, 2017. Instead, those Teslas would have about 1,000 miles worth of free Supercharging per year and then would be charged a fee for any sessions beyond that. Tesla hasn't disclosed what that fee will be.
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Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles have been taking to Twitter to complain about other Tesla owners who charge up their vehicles at Superchargers and don't retrieve the vehicles when the charging is done, effectively blocking the station from being used by other drivers. Like the US president-elect, Musk is no stranger to using Twitter to get his messages out, and in this case, he appears to sympathize. "Will take action," Musk tweeted recently, responding to one particular complaint about so-called 'evholes.'
@loic You're right, this is becoming an issue. Supercharger spots are meant for charging, not parking. Will take action.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2016
What he'll do is anyone's guess, but that doesn't mean other Twitter users were short on suggestions. Many suggested the concept of having Tesla charge users a fee when their charging goes beyond pre-set levels, which, given the level of communication Tesla has with its cars' owners, wouldn't be too difficult. One Twitter user suggested programming the car of the offending user to drive off by itself once it figures out that it's been parked for two long. Which is actually pretty funny, and would require something like that creepy robot arm to be deployed at Superchargers.
Of course, with free services such as Supercharging, there will always be abuse. And Tesla is putting an end to such free services. Last month, the California-based company said it would end lifetime free Supercharging for Teslas that are ordered after Jan. 1, 2017. Instead, those Teslas would have about 1,000 miles worth of free Supercharging per year and then would be charged a fee for any sessions beyond that. Tesla hasn't disclosed what that fee will be.
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