Electric car manufacturer Tesla is raising prices for its top models in several countries, but in return is luring customers with free lifetime charging on its Supercharger network.
The Model S sedan has recently become more expensive in Germany and now costs 109,000 euros, reports Automobilwoche magazine. The price of the Model X SUV has risen by about 15 percent to 114,900 euros.
The company systematically attracted customers with the option of free charging, but stopped this practice in 2016. Electrek portal reminds us that boss Elon Musk categorically rejected the possibility of ever offering free electricity again. Free charging is justified only by the fact that we were idiots, Musk said in 2020. Tesla operates a network of more than 60,000 fast chargers around the world, according to HAK Magazine.
At the end of 2024, Electrek reports, the company will once again offer free electricity as a special promotion. The offer applies to Model X and S ordered in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Europe or the Middle East. The price of the Model X in the US has increased by $ 5,000, less dramatically than the price increase in Germany, but it exceeds the price limit of $ 80,000, up to which the US government still promotes the purchase of an electric car with a tax credit of up to $ 7,500. Tesla emphasized that the promise of free electricity applies only to first-time buyers and is not transferable when reselling the car.
The Model S has been on offer since 2012, and the Model X since 2015. They have not played a major role in sales statistics for a long time. Together with the new Cybertruck, Tesla leads them in the same sales group. Tesla sold a total of 85,133 vehicles in this category last year. The majority of sales of a total of 1.7 million newly registered Teslas were made up of the Model Y and 3.