Recently, some electric car owners expressed their discontentment with reckless drivers who take advantage of Tesla's charging stations. Apparently, many owners use the charging stations as parking spots which result in other drivers not being able to charge their cars.
Elon Musk made a statement on Twitter saying that Tesla Motors will react and do something to improve the availability of Superchargers. And we didn't have to wait long because Tesla announced on their official blog that they are introducing a fleet-wide idle fee that aims to increase Supercharger availability.
We designed the Supercharger network to enable a seamless, enjoyable road trip experience. Therefore, we understand that it can be frustrating to arrive at a station only to discover fully charged Tesla cars occupying all the spots.
From now on, Tesla will charge $0.40 cents per every additional minute that a car stays parked at the Supercharger after the car has been fully charged.
The Tesla app allows owners to remotely monitor their vehicle, alerting them when their charge is nearly complete and again once fully charged. For every additional minute, a car remains connected to the Supercharger, it will incur a $0.40 idle fee. If the car is moved within 5 minutes, the fee is waived. To be clear, this change is purely about increasing customer happiness and we hope to never make any money from it.
Inconsiderate Tesla car owners will be billed for any idle fees incurred at their next Service Center visit. Tesla hopes this will result in better awareness of their drivers and improve the experience for every driver.